Daily Times

The Wakhan Corridor is also called “roof of the world” with its elevation of 5400 meters. It is located in the north-eastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan and is surrounded on three sides by Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. The Wakhan Corridor, about 350 km long and 13 km wide, is flanked by the exquisite Pamir Mountains to the north and the Karakoram Range to the south.

It is, in fact, a narrow strip of land extending from eastern Afghanistan like a “pointing finger” or like “handle of a cooking pot”. The corridor was formed in 1893 in an agreement between Afghanistan and the United Kingdom to serve as a buffer between the British Empire in India and the Russian Empire. The Wakhan Corridor at one point narrows the distance between Pakistan and Central Asia to barely 13 km.

At the end of the corridor, there is Wakhjir Pass that has been used as an important post of the old Silk Road that facilitated trade between China and the ancient Rome.

The Wakhan Corridor has huge economic and strategic potential for Pakistan. It can work wonders for Pakistan as a transit economy, creating thousands of jobs, generating foreign revenue, and most importantly enhancing regional connectivity through infrastructure development. For bordering with China and the resource-rich Central Asian states, the Wakhan Corridor can serve as a perfect transit route to trade those resources through Pakistan and China. A recent study highlights that Central Asian Republics (CARs) and Azerbaijan have 7.5 trillion cubic meters of gas, Kazakhstan possesses 22 billion barrels of oil and Turkmenistan alone has 37 billion barrels of oil and 60-80 billion cubic meters of gas. Besides, Afghanistan itself is among the top copper and oil reservoir holders. Therefore, the integration of CARs, Azerbaijan, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan through strategic corridors could make massive economic, social and political impact not only on the region but also on the global level.

Let us analyze the various aspects of the dormant fortune associated with the Wakhan Corridor that can bring about economic, commercial, social and strategic transformation of all stake holders, especially Pakistan:

A. Afghanistan and China signed an MOU in 2009 for construction of a road through Wakhjir Pass of the Wakhan Corridor that would connect the recently built Karakoram Highway linking Kashgar in Xinjiang to Islamabad. This road would represent the cheapest route extending CPEC to Central Asia while giving access to the warm waters of Gowadar.

B. Moreover, this road through Wakhjir Pass would certainly open up the way for shorter pipelines routes between Central Asia and China; thus increasing security of energy supplies while benefiting the Central Asian economies.

C. The road in Wakhan Corridor and associated projects of China would ensure manifold benefits to Afghanistan including trade with China, further investment in the natural resources. China is already a major export partner of Afghanistan in deals worth US$ 7.4 billion for extracting minerals and copper from Afghanistan. Then, under the movement of data connectivity, projects include Digital Silk Road and the fibre optic link with China through Wakhan Corridor.

D. In line with the Western geopolitical interests, the increased Chinese involvement in Afghanistan is likely to mitigate terrorist activities and drug smuggling leading to increased legitimate trade.

E. The enhanced commerce and trade through the Wakhan Corridor to the Gowadar port would trigger higher trilateral relations between Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. Though, this development may affect India’s geopolitical standing, but it can also induce Indian think tanks to join Belt and Road Initiative in their larger interests of economic stability and security.

F. The opening of Wakhjir Pass in the Wakhan Corridor for regular trade would evolve legal exchange and cooperation with customs controls and deployment of border security. This would certainly contribute to more stability and security in the region.

G. Pakistan and Tajikistan are merely 13 km apart at the closest point of Wakhan Corridor. Therefore, compared to the current alternatives, it can serve not only as north-south corridor but also east-west corridor by transforming this land buffer into bridge between Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Pakistan can get direct access to the mineral-rich central Asia and China-Eurasian economic corridor. Mutual rapport has already been shown in 2016, when China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan formed a Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism in Urumqi to combat terrorism jointly.

H. Again, all direct or indirect beneficiaries of the economic advantage latent in the Wakhan Corridor, like all Central Asian states, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan are already associated in a number of projects like QTTA, TAP, CASA-1000 and CAREC.

I. The Wakhan Corridor with its 12000 local inhabitants is wild, elevated, inaccessible and least populated place of Afghanistan. The population suffers from lack of education, poverty, ill-health, food insecurity and opium addiction. Above developments would certainly bring local development and the economic well-being of the people. The fore-gone analysis, spotlights the immense economic and strategic potential of the Wakhan Corridor that can unlock new vistas of progress and prosperity. The development of physical infrastructure through Wakhjir Pass would be a key to boost regional trade and commerce in an enormous way. The development of Wakhan Corridor could be an example of massive regional integration and economic cooperation at the lowest possible cost. The landlocked CARs would also be able to carry out cheaper marine trade through Gowadar port of Pakistan.

The writer is Country Manager of a Pakistani bank in Kazakhstan, with interest in Central Asian studies. He can be reached out at rafeeq_kz@yahoo.com.