Wakhan Valley

·0 The Wakhan Corridor:

Wakhan or "the Wakhan" (also spelt Vakhan; Persian and Pashto: , Vâxân and Wāxān
respectively; Tajik: Вахон, Vaxon) is a very mountainous and rugged part of the Pamir,
Hindu Kush and Karakoram regions of Afghanistan. Wakhan District is a district in
Badakshan Province.

·1 Geography:

The Wakhan and surrounding areas along the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan

Wakhan people are also located in Pakistan, Gilgit, upper Hunza Gojal Velly, where
numerous people speaks wakhi and they have different culture which include dance,
food, festival and much more. The Wakhan is located in the extreme north-east of
Afghanistan. It contains the headwaters of the Amu Darya (Oxus) River, and was an
ancient corridor for travellers from the Tarim Basin to Badakshan.

Until 1883 the Wakhan included the whole valley of the Panj River and the Pamir River,
as well as the upper flow of the Panj River known as the Wakhan River.[1] An 1873
agreement between UK and Russia split the Wakhan by delimiting spheres of influence
for the two countries at the Panj and Pamir rivers, and an agreement between Britain and
Afghanistan in 1893 confirmed the new border.[2] Since then, the name Wakhan is now
generally used to refer to the Afghan area south of the two rivers. The northern part of the
historic Wakhan is now part of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in
Tajikistan.
The only road into the Wakhan is a rough track from Ishkashim past Qila-e Panja to
Sarhad-e Broghil. Paths lead from the end of the road to the Wakhjir Pass, a mountain ass
leading to China which is closed to travellers.

The western part of the Wakhan, between Ishkashim and Qila-e Panja, is known as Lower
Wakhan, which includes the valley of the Panj River. The valleys of the Wakhan River,
the Pamir River and their tributaries, and the terrain between, are known as Upper
Wakhan.

The eastern extremity of Upper Wakhan is known as the Pamir Knot, the area where the
Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges meet. West of the
Pamir Knot is the Little Pamir, a broad U-shaped grassy valley 100 km long and 10 km
wide,[3] which contains Chaqmaqtin Lake, the headwaters of the Aksu or Murghab River.
At the eastern end of the Little Pamir is the Tegermansu Valley, from where the closed
Tegermansu Pass (4,827 m) leads to China. The Great Pamir or Big Pamir, a 60 km long
valley south of Zorkol lake, drained by the Pamir River, lies to the northwest of the Little
Pamir.

The mountain range that divides the two Pamirs is known as the Nicholas Range.[4] West
of the Nicholas Range, between the Great Pamir and the lower valley of the Wakhan
River, is the Wakhan Range, which culminates in the Koh-e Pamir (6,320 m).

The roads in the region have small shrines to Ismaili Muslim pirs and are adorned with
"special stones and curled ibex and sheep horns", which are symbols of purity in the
Zoroastrian faiths, once present in the region before the arrival of Islam.[5]

Wakhan between Afghanistan and Tajikistan

The Wakhan River flows through the corridor from the east to Qila-e Panja where it joins
the Pamir River to become the Panj River which then forms the border.

In the south the corridor is bordered by the high mountains of the Hindu Kush, crossed by
the Broghol pass, the Irshad Pass and the disused Dilisang Pass[6] to Pakistan.

·2 History:

Historically the Wakhan has been an important region for thousands of years as it is here
the Western and Eastern portions of Central Asia mee

Western Wakhan was conquered in the early part of the 1st century CE by Kujula
Kadphises, the first "Great Kushan," and was one of the five xihou or principalities that
formed the nucleus of the original Kushan kingdom.[7]

Until 1883 Wakhan was a principality on both sides of the Panj and Pamir Rivers, ruled
by a hereditary ruler (mir) with his capital at Qila-e Panja.[8] In the 1880s, under pressure
from Britain, Abdur Rahman Khan the Emir of Afghanistan imposed Afghan rule on the
Wakhan.[9]

Agreements between Britain and Russia in 1873 and between Britain and Afghanistan in
1893 effectively split the historic area of Wakhan by making the Panj and Pamir Rivers
the border between Afghanistan and the Russian Empire.[2] On its south side, the Durand
Line agreement of 1893 marked the boundary between British India and Afghanistan.
This left a narrow strip of land as a buffer between the two empires.

In 1949, when Mao Zedong completed the Communist takeover of China, the borders
were permanently closed, sealing off the 2,000-year-old caravan route and turning the
corridor into a cul-de-sac. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, they
occupied the Wakhan and built strong military posts at Sarhad-e Broghil and elsewhere.
To facilitate access they built a bridge across the Pamir River at Prip, near Gaz Kan.
However, the area did not see fighting.[10]

In 2010 the Wakhan was reported to be peaceful and unaffected by the war in the rest of
Afghanistan.

·3 Demographics:

Wakhi, Kyrgyz and Khowar are the major ethnic groups of Wakhan. Wakhan is sparsely
populated. The total population is estimated at about 10,600.[10] Most of its inhabitants
speak the Vakhi or Wakhi language (xxik zik), and belong to an ethnic group known as
Vakhi or Wakhi. Nomadic Kyrgyz herders live at the higher altitudes.[12]

According to a 2003 report by the United Nations Environment Programme and Food and
Agriculture Organization, the population of Wakhan suffers from lack of education,
poverty, ill health, food insecurity and opium addiction.[10]

·4 Wakhi:

The Wakhi population of Wakhan was 9,444 in 2003.[10] Almost all of them adhere to
the Shia Ismaili faith and some of them speak Ishkashimi language.[12] Wakhi people
also inhabit several areas adjacent to the Wakhan in Tajikistan, Pakistan and China.

The Wakhi practice agriculture in the river valleys, and herd animals in the summer
pastures at higher elevations.

The dominant sect of Islam in the region is Ismaili, much milder than the strict form of
Islam generally practiced in the country. However, in Ishkashim, the city at the western
mouth of the Wakhan, stricter observance is demanded. The area has been long neglected
by the central government of Afghanistan and the people are poor, many being traditional
pastoralists living in yurts and lacking basic services. However non-governmental
organizations such as the Aga Khan Development Network have taken an interest in the
area. The Central Asia Institute, founded by Greg Mortenson, has built 11 schools in the
region.[11]

Alastair Leithead on BBC News 24 on 26 December 2007, presented a half-hour feature

about Wakhan, focusing particularly on the work of expatriate British Doctor Alexander
Duncan, which provided a significant piece of extended media reporting from this
inaccessible area.[13] He has also covered the Pamir Festival in the area.[14]

·5 Kyrgyz:

The Kyrgyz population of Wakhan was 1,130 in 2003, all in the eastern part of Wakhan.
[10] The Kyrgyz are Sunni Hanafi Muslims.

The suppression of the 1916 rebellion against Russian rule in Central Asia caused many
Kyrgyz later to migrate to China and Afghanistan. Most of Kyrgyz refugees settled in
Wakhan region of Afghanistan.

Until 1978 the northeastern portion of Wakhan (the Great Pamir and the Little Pamir) was
home to about 3–5 thousand ethnic Kyrgyz.[15][16] In 1978 almost all the Kyrgyz
inhabitants fled to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Saur Revolution. They requested 5,000
visas from the United States Consulate in Peshawar for resettlement in Alaska (a region
that shares a similar climate and temperature with the Wakhan Corridor). Their request
was denied. In the meantime, the heat and the unsanitary conditions of the refugee camp
were killing off the Kyrgyz refugees at an alarming rate. Turkey which was under the
military coup rule of General Kenan Evren, stepped in, and resettled the entire group in
the Lake Van region of Turkey in 1982. The village of Ulupamir (or “Great Pamir” in
Kyrgyz) in Erciş on Lake Van was given to these, where more than 5,000 of them still
reside today. The documentary film "37 Uses for a Dead Sheep – the story of the Pamir
Kirghiz" was based on the life of these Kyrgyz/Kirgiz in their new home.

Kyrgyz from Wakhan region of Afghanistan moved to Pakistan in the 1970s. Nearly
1,100 of these were accepted by Turkey to settle in Ulupamir (or “Great Pamir” in
Kyrgyz), their resettlement village in Van Province.[17]

Some Kyrgyz returned to the Wakhan in October 1979, following the Soviet occupation
of Afghanistan.[8]

Kho:
The Kho (or Khowar) population of Wakhan was 1,230 in 2003, all in the eastern part of
Wakhan. The Khos are Sunni and Ismaili Muslim