Wakhan

The district of Wakhan lies in the northeastern part of Badakhshan Province and extends from Ishkashim in the west to the borders of China in the east, separating Tajikistan from the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. The district had been awarded to Afghanistan by the Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission (1895–1896) in order to create a buffer between the two empires. At first, Amir Abdur Rahman was reluctant to accept this award of territory because of its strategic location, but he eventually agreed when the proposal was sweetened by an annual British subsidy of 50,000 rupees.Until 1882, the area was ruled by an independent amir; thereafter, it then came under the administrative control of the governor of Badakhshan. The area is inhabited by some 6,000 Isma’ilis and a small number of Sunni Qirghiz, many of the latter having migrated to Turkey following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The high valleys of the Wakhan corridor are inhabited by Uzbeks and Wakhis (Isma’ilis), and the Bactrian camel and the yak are the main beasts of burden. The Qirghiz herders live together with the agricultural Wakhis in a mutually dependent way of life.

References

• Conflict in Afghanistan Frank A. Clements
• Adamec, Ludwig. 1972–1985. Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan. 6 vols. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck-u Verlagsansalt.