Wakhan District

Wakhan
واخان (Dari)
ووښ (Wakhi)
A scenery in Wakhan
The location of Wakhan District within Badakhshan Province
Coordinates: 37°07′45″N 73°37′07″E / 37.129240°N 73.618680°E / 37.129240; 73.618680
Country Afghanistan
ProvinceBadakhshan Province
CapitalKhandud
Area
 • Total
4,347 sq mi (11,260 km2)
Population
 (2021)[1]
 • Total
17,167
Time zoneUTC+04:30 (Afghanistan Time)

Wakhan District[a] is one of the 28 districts of Badakhshan province in eastern Afghanistan. It has a population of about 17,167 people,[1] mostly ethnic Wakhis, Pamiris and Kyrghyz.[2][3][4] The town of Khandud serves as the district's capital. The closest major airport is Fayzabad Airport in the city of Fayzabad.

The district of Wakhan has an area of approximately 11,258 km2 (4,347 sq mi), which includes the whole of Wakhan National Park and parts of Noshaq and Zorkul. There is a gravel road that passes in the district. It starts from Ishkashim in neighboring Ishkashim District in the west and ends at the Wakhjir Pass (Afghanistan–China border) in the far east.[5][6] All parts of the district are patrolled by the Afghan National Police and Afghan Armed Forces.[7][8] Foreigners are required to have an Afghan visa, including a special permission letter from Afghanistan's Ministry of Information and Culture.[9]

To the north of Wakhan is the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region of Tajikistan, to the east is the Xinjiang region of China, and to the south is Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.[10]

History

Further information: History of Afghanistan

As a source of major rivers flowing toward Central Asia, Wakhan has been an important part of many powerful Islamic empires such as the Samanid Empire, Ghaznavid Empire, Ghurid Empire, Khwarazmian Empire, Timurid Empire and so on. This mountainous terrain was historically used as one of the trade routes between Kabul and Kashgar.[11][12] The region was last conquered by Nader Shah in around 1738. It has been under the control of Afghanistan since the formation of the Durrani Empire. The eastern border of Wakhan District was settled with China's Qing dynasty during the reign of Ahmad Shah Durrani. In 1891, during the Russian conquest of Central Asia, government forces from the Russian Empire had occupied Wakhan by stationing troops in Bazai Gumbad. A British national by the name of Francis Younghusband, who was traveling from Kashgar back to British India, was detained by the stationed Russian troops for having no visa or permission letter.[13][14] After the signing of the 1893 Durand Line Agreement and the 1895 Pamir Boundary Commission protocols, the Russian troops had all withdrawn from Bazai Gumbad and Wakhan became a buffer zone between Tsarist Russia and British India.[15][16]

Towns and villages

It was reported in 2008 that the district of Wakhan had 110 villages and 16 public schools.[17][4]

Health

Further information: Health in Afghanistan

There is at least one health clinic in Wakhan.[18]

Economy

Further information: Economy of Afghanistan

The people of Wakhan are villagers mostly involved in agriculture, trade, transport, security, and tourism.[2] Some go to work in Kabul or other Afghan cities.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^
    • Dari: ولسوالی واخان, Wuluswālī-i-Wākhān
    • Pashto: واخان ولسوالۍ, Wākhān Wələswālai
    • Wakhi: ووښ, Wux̌, [wux]
    • Pamiri Kyrgyz: واخان, Wahan

Citations

  1. ^ a b https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204559/https://www.nsia.gov.af:8080/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Estimated-Population-of-Afghanistan1-1400.pdf (p. 87)
  2. ^ a b "A new road to an inaccessible land". United Kingdom: BBC. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  3. ^ "Will Pamir Kyrgyz Leave The 'Roof Of The World'?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. April 30, 2021. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  4. ^ a b "Smile! Postcards from Afghanistan's furthest corner". BBC News. 25 February 2018. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  5. ^ "Wakhan Corridor Project 70% Complete, Aims for Economic Boost". TOLOnews. 16 December 2025. Retrieved 2025-12-18.
  6. ^ "Graveling work of 2nd phase of Wakhan Road begins". Pajhwok Afghan News. 16 May 2025. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  7. ^ "Cabinet orders military deployment, services in Wakhan valley". Pajhwok Afghan News. 20 November 2022. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  8. ^ برنامه میهن من از وضعیت زندگی باشندگان پامیر بدخشان on YouTube (RTA Dari, Nov. 4, 2023)
  9. ^ "Silk Road Highway Reaches China-Afghanistan Border, Facilitating Historic Trade Routes". Bakhtar News Agency. 6 July 2024. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  10. ^ Dunning, Sam (August 14, 2021). "China Is Protecting Its Thin Corridor to the Afghan Heartland". United States: Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
  11. ^ Beveridge, Annette Susannah (7 January 2014). The Bābur-nāma in English, Memoirs of Bābur. Project Gutenberg. p. 202.
  12. ^ Stein, Mark Aurel (1907). "Ancient Khotan". Nature. 76 (1981): 619–620. Bibcode:1907Natur..76..619H. doi:10.1038/076619a0. S2CID 3999325.
  13. ^ Wood, Frances (2002). The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia. University of California Press. pp. 157–60. ISBN 978-0-520-24340-8.
  14. ^ Riddick, John (2006). The history of British India. Praeger Pub Text. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-313-32280-8.
  15. ^ Balland, Daniel (1 January 2000). "BOUNDARIES iii. Boundaries of Afghanistan". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 2025-12-15.
  16. ^ De Planhol, Xavier. "BADAḴŠĀN i. Geography and Ethnography". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 2025-12-15.
  17. ^ "Wakhan District" (PDF). June 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  18. ^ "Health center for Badakhshan's Pamir residents opens". Pajhwok Afghan News. 9 October 2023. Retrieved 2025-12-18.

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