China's land border is 22,000 kilometers long and has 14 land neighbors. The most special land neighbor is Afghanistan. It is special not only because the border between China and Afghanistan is only 92.45 kilometers, the shortest among all neighboring countries, but also because China and Afghanistan "should not be" adjacent to each other.
▲China’s land neighbors have the shortest distance to Afghanistan
From the map, a span between China and Afghanistan is more than 5span. The mountain range , with an average elevation of more than 5,500 meters, almost isolates the connection between the two countries.
Strangely, a "finger" stretched out from northeastern Afghanistan, "forcibly" bordering China, this "finger" is Wakhan Corridor .
▲The Wakhan Corridor is also very abrupt on the map of Afghanistan. It seems to be dedicated to the border with China
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to the north It is Pakistan-controlled Kashmir . The residents in the corridor are mainly Tajiks, which are completely different from the Pashtuns, the main ethnic group in Afghanistan.
In that case, how did Afghanistan get the Wakhan Corridor?
1. The Homeland of China
The Wakhan Corridor is located at the southern end of the Pamirs.It is named because the Wakhan River flows from east to west. The average elevation of the Wakhan River Valley is about 4000 meters. Compared with the high mountains above 5500 meters above sea level on the north and south sides, the Wakhan River Valley is already a rare lowland.
▲The location of the Pamirs
Although Pamirs were established 60 years ago, the Western Regions were very far away from the Central Plains. The government officially incorporated the entire Western Regions into China's territory, and at the same time opened the far-reaching Silk Road.
The Pamir Plateau is the westernmost point of the Western Regions, and the Han people call it 葱岭 . The prosperity of the Western Han dynasty's economy and the strong national power can be seen from this.
▲In 60 BC, the Western Han Dynasty was established as the capital of the Western Regions, when the Afghan land was inhabited by _span6p _span0p 0p 0p The main passage of the Mill Plateau not only communicates the trade between the East and the West, it is also the meeting point of the major civilizations in Asia. Buddhism, which originated in the South Asian subcontinent in the 6th century BC, spread to Central Asia before and after AD, and then spread to China through the Wakhan Corridor, exerting an extremely significant influence on Chinese civilization.
In order to find more primitive Buddhist scriptures, Eastern Jin Dynasty Fa Xian, Datang Xuanzang and other Chinese monks have traveled through the Wakhan Corridor to Tianzhu (India), Faxian also left the earliest written record of the Wakhan Corridor, "No birds on the top and no beasts on the bottom", only the bones left by the predecessors are used as road signs.
▲The Pamir Plateau is the birthplace of many rivers, and the Wakhan River is the upper reaches of Amu Darya , but the upper reaches of Amu Darya
2p0 The rule was not continuous. During the civil strife in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the nomadic regimes of the Western Regions became independent. It was not until the Tang Dynasty defeated the Turks 500 years later that they regained their jurisdiction over the Western Regions, making the Pamirs including the Wakhan Corridor once again. Owned to China.
Historically, the Western Regions were the common homeland of many nomads, and the ancestors of the Tajiks were also one of them. They originally lived in the Amu Darya Valley and other regions of Central Asia. Driven away, some people were forced to move to the desolate and barren Hindu Kush Mountains and the Pamirs.
▲The Western Regions when the Tang Dynasty had the largest territory, Tocharo (Afghanistan's predecessor) was also included as a vassal country
Islamic civilization has risen in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century and is expanding rapidly. Tang Xuanzong period,The Islamic civilization conquered Central Asia and directly collided with Chinese civilization in the Pamirs.
755 Anshi Rebellion broke out, most of the western garrisons of the Tang Dynasty were transferred back to the rebellion, and the few Tang troops left behind were gradually weakened due to lack of supplementation until they all died out. The black khan dynasty , supported by the Arabian Empire , took the opportunity to move eastward and "islamized" all the western regions west of the Hexi Corridor . The Buddhist culture was cut off, leaving only some Buddhist relics for people to admire.
For the next 1000 years, China never directly ruled the Wakhan Corridor and the Western Regions. It was not until the mid-18th century when the Qing Dynasty put down the rebellion of Junggar and Xiaohezhuo. The homeland of Han and Tang Dynasties is once again placed in the territory of China.
▲The territory of Xinjiang after the Qing Dynasty restored sovereignty, Congling (Pamirs) belonged to China
p _p5sp p0757, the emperor changed the territory of Xinjiang to the western region The scope includes the Pamirs and Balkhash Lake, deep into the modern Central Asia, covering an area of 2.17 million square kilometers, greatly exceeding the 1.66 million square kilometers of the modern Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
It can be seen that the Wakhan Corridor and the Pamir Plateau are part of the Western Regions and the westernmost point of the ancient Chinese territory. The Han, Tang, and Qing dynasties all exercised effective jurisdiction over the Western Regions.
Second, the two strong
When the Qing Dynasty regained Xinjiang, the first reunification of the in the history of the Durani dynasty in the west was just completed. The main ethnic group is the Pashtuns living in the south, and the Tajik and other Central Asian nomads in the north are only surrendered in name and lack a sense of identity with the Durani dynasty and Afghanistan.
Because of this, although the Durani dynasty once claimed sovereignty over the Pamirs, it was unable to take actual actions, because the Tajiks here were not loyal to Afghanistan, and did not even have a clear concept of the country.
▲The territory during the heyday of the Durani dynasty, but this is only the imagination of future generations
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p did not invest too much in Xinjiang's development and sovereignty With many resources, after Emperor Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty began to decline like the feudal dynasties such as Han and Tang, which reduced its attention to Xinjiang. The two great powers of Britain and Russia have approached the Pamirs from both the north and the south.
In the 1830s, Britain basically completed the colonization process of the South Asian subcontinent, and the next conquest target was Afghanistan. Although Afghanistan is very barren, it is a security barrier for British India. Historically, Indian invaders entered India from Afghanistan. Therefore, the British wanted to control Afghanistan to ensure the safety of British India.
The weak Durranian dynasty is not the main defense target of the British,Russia is expanding into Central Asia. Russia is a very expansive empire. It is not satisfied with the access to the Pacific and the Atlantic, and it wants to seize the warm access to the Indian Ocean.
In the middle of the 19th century, Russia began to expand into Central Asia. There are many independent nomadic khanates such as Khiva, Bukhara, and Kokand, and the larger Kazakh Khanate_ Span6span was still a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, but these khanates are obviously not Russia's opponents. Once Russia succeeds, it will continue to attack Afghanistan, and its troops will be directed at British India, and the British and Russian armies will face each other.
▲Before the Russians arrived, there were many nomadic khanates in Central Asia
was the British empire. An important part is that the annual tax revenue accounts for half of the entire British Empire. It also provides sufficient food and industrial raw materials such as cotton and jute. At the same time, it is a huge market with hundreds of millions of people.
Britain regards the maintenance of the safety of British India as extremely important. In the eyes of the British, Russian talents are the greatest threat to British India. They must not sit back and watch this happen. They must act first to put Afghanistan under their own protection.
▲The Pamirs are a great barrier to the ancient army, which has tens of thousands of people, but it cannot stop the much smaller British and Russian army 2
The root cause of the disaster,The country’s land is barren and torn apart, with almost no political and economic value. It is just because it is sandwiched between the British and Russian powers and it has become a competition for great powers.
At this time Afghanistan has just established a state, and the Pashtuns, the main body of the Durani dynasty, believe that the Tajiks in the north, Uzbeks, etc. are all descendants of the invaders in history and are related to Central Asia. The nomads maintain close relationships. Therefore, the ethnic relations within Afghanistan are very tense, and they often meet each other in battle, giving foreign forces a chance to divide and win.
3. Land lost
The aggression ambition of the British frightened the Afghans, and in order to fight the British, they began to seek protection from the Russians. An excuse for using force. In 1838, the British launched the war of aggression against Afghanistan under the pretext of the alliance between Afghanistan and Russia.
Occupy the capital Kabul It is not difficult to overthrow the current government, but it is an incomplete task to quell the resistance of the Afghan people. In November 1841, an anti-British uprising broke out throughout Afghanistan, attacking British troops and colonial governments everywhere, cutting off the supply line from British India to Kabul, and putting the British troops stationed in Kabul into a desperate situation.
▲It easily captured the Afghan castle and made the British believe that it was easy to conquer Afghanistan
Kabul,Attempts to return to British India were repeatedly attacked by the Afghan insurgents. It is said that only one military doctor escaped safely, and the British had to temporarily abandon their goal of conquering Afghanistan.
Unlike the British failure in Afghanistan, Russia’s expansion in Central Asia was quite smooth. By the 1860s, Russia had passed the " Beijing Treaty" and the "Northwestern Boundary Treaty" "Cut off the Chinese territory east and south of Lake Balkhash. The Central Asian Khanates such as Kokand and Khiva also became vassals of Russia, and it was only a matter of time before they were completely annexed.
▲The British army was defeated in 1842, which turned Afghanistan into an "imperial graveyard"
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869 in order to stop Russia from going further south Afghanistan and the Pamirs became a buffer zone between Britain and Russia, avoiding direct neighbors, but they were rejected. Russia's ambitions are not limited to Central Asia, and there are also attempts to meddle Afghanistan.
In March 1876, Russia formally annexed the Kokand Khanate , completing the expansion of the Central Asia region, and coming to the Pamirs. On the other hand, Russia has continuously strengthened its power in Afghanistan, wooing the upper class in Afghanistan, and squeezing out British power in order to weaken British influence in Afghanistan.
▲The medieval army of the nomads in Central Asia is not at all an opponent of the modernized Russian army
is the second time that the British provoked this in 1878. The war of aggression against Afghanistan,The excuse is also the alliance between Afghanistan and Russia. After a bitter battle, Britain finally turned Afghanistan into a vassal state as it wished, and cut off the possibility of Russia controlling Afghanistan.
Seeing that Britain was determined to win Afghanistan, Russia had no choice but to invade the worse conditions of the Pamirs. At that time, the sovereignty of the Pamirs belonged to the Qing Dynasty, but the Qing Dynasty had very weak control over the border areas of Xinjiang. The Pamirs only set up outposts at some of the passes because of the extremely harsh natural conditions, so that the Russian aggression easily succeeded.
▲ Qianlong has erected imperial steles in many places in Xinjiang. Unfortunately, the piece on the Pamirs has been damaged
2p 188 In 1884, they signed the "Kashgar Boundary Treaty" and the "Continued Kashgar Boundary Treaty" to advance the Sino-Russian border to the northern end of the Pamirs. Since then, the Russian army has frequently invaded the Pamirs and forcibly set up sovereignty signs to drive out a small number of garrisons at the outposts of the Qing Dynasty.
The British were not to be outdone, and sent scouts into the area many times to survey and map to show that the British would not allow Russia to invade and even almost clashed with the Russian army. The British, of course, did not want to safeguard China's sovereignty over the Pamirs, but were unwilling to be monopolized by Russia, exposing British India to the front of the Russians.
▲Russia’s dream of the Indian Ocean outlet, Afghanistan is at a key position
invaded the Pamir plateau in 1892Occupied most of the Pamirs, only the Wakhan Corridor was not occupied. The Qing Dynasty protested against Russia's violation of the "Continued Investigation of the Kashgar Territory", but Russia ignored it and did not withdraw its troops.
Russia did not take the opportunity to annex the Wakhan Corridor, mainly because the south of this corridor is British India. After the Wakhan Corridor is captured, the Russian army will face the British directly. Russia knows that this is the British. Unacceptable bottom line.
On September 8, 1895, representatives of the United Kingdom, Russia, and Afghanistan signed a demarcation agreement to carve up the Pamirs. According to the British records, the Afghan representatives only have the right to silently attend the meeting and sign the final agreement, passively obtaining the Wakhan Corridor for Afghanistan, and the Pamirs north of the Corridor all belong to Russia.
▲The boundary changes between the Qing Dynasty and Central Asia, the left is 1820, the right is 1896, the white circle is the location of the Wakhan Corridor _p2 br17p0
It does not recognize the occupation and partition of the Pamirs by Russia, Britain, and Afghanistan. However, the Qing government had just lost the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War and ceded the land for compensation. It was unable to change the facts and could only sit by and watch the loss of the westernmost border of the country.
From this historical fact, it can be seen that Afghanistan is not connected to China through the Wakhan Corridor. It should be said that the connection between Afghanistan and China is only the Wakhan Corridor, which is more like a China-Africa land bridge.
This process was not actively won by Afghanistan, but was manipulated by the two great powers of Britain and Russia. The purpose was to leave a buffer zone between the spheres of influence of Britain and Russia.Prevent the two powerhouses from being directly adjacent to each other.
▲Detailed map of the Wakhan Corridor
_h119 The British ruled against Afghanistan
19 The year ended, and the unremitting resistance of the Afghan people made the British feel that the gains were not worth the loss. It is better to give up Afghanistan to ensure the safety of British India.
In August of that year, the new Afghan Kingdom was independent, almost indistinguishable from the Durani dynasty. It is dominated by the Pashtuns, and the opposition between the northern and southern nations remains, but with some western elements.
And Russia has just experienced the First World War and has become a socialist country. It has not recovered from the extreme weakness caused by wars and revolutions, and temporarily does not see any expansion to the south. Desire and strength allowed the British to withdraw from Afghanistan at ease.
▲ Afghan ethnic distribution map, the Wakhan Corridor is dominated by Tajiks
5 in Afghanistan (span 6span
5 years later) The buffer between them is the object of the two countries' struggle. Fortunately, they escaped the Second World War, and there were no large-scale wars and conflicts.
After the founding of New China, in order to solve the historical border issue between China and Afghanistan, based on the principle of respecting history and taking care of the status quo, New China recognized Afghanistan’s sovereignty over the western half of the Wakhan Corridor, 1963 On November 22, 2005, the two countries formally signed a border agreement, forming today's China-Arab border.
▲The Wakhan Corridor can only be grazing and passable for three months in summer
was a puppet invaded by the Soviet Union in the late 70s. The continuation of the dream of going to Russia to go south to the Indian Ocean. The Afghan people rose up to resist, and the Tajik and other northern nations formed the Northern Alliance , which is one of the main forces in the resistance against the Soviet Union.
The war in Afghanistan has not completely subsided until today. Compared with other places, the Wakhan Corridor is a rare place of peace. The altitude here is high, the natural conditions are bad, and the mountains are covered by heavy snow three-quarters of the year. It is only accessible from June to August, and it is far away from the core area of Afghanistan. It is of no value to all forces and is able to stay away from war.
▲Wahan Corridor residents may be the happiest Afghans even though they are poor but far away from the war
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According to statistics from 2010 12,000 people, mainly Kyrgyz in the east, and Tajiks in the west.They are all nomads with almost no arable land. Even within Afghanistan, the residents of the Wakhan Corridor belong to one of the poorest groups.
The Wakhan Corridor gradually narrows from west to east. It is about 300 kilometers in Afghanistan and more than 100 kilometers in China. The 92.45-kilometer-long China-Afghanistan border is mostly high mountains, and the passable valleys in the middle are easy to control. In addition, the elevation of the Wakhan Corridor itself is also above 4000 meters, which makes it difficult for ordinary people to adapt. Therefore, despite the fact that Afghanistan has been used for decades The turmoil has continued, but no refugees have ever hit the Chinese border.
▲The Xinjiang region of China nearest to Afghanistan
. There is no logistics between China and Afghan corridor, nor does it pass through here. However, ports and highways have been built in China. As long as peace and order are restored in Afghanistan, the Wakhan Corridor can still play the role of a China-Afghanistan land bridge.
▲Kok Turuk border defense on the China-Arab border
strong__strong_span 718 Chief Editor｜Thomas London School of Economics and Political Science graduate｜Global Intelligence Officer Editor-in-Chief _strongspan6span _strong 718strong —strongspan 6span _strong 718strong —strongspan.
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