Embedded in rugged Asia, it is on a soaring perch, so remote that time seems to stand still and whispered legends are whispered in legends, is Wakhan Corridor — a skinny corridor of land that contains in its smallness the potential for new wealth and liberation for Pakistan. As a relic of colonial cartography, this is a relic of colonial cartography now drawn by the British as a buffer between empires, and now a vestige of a crossroads between forgotten history and unfulfilled destiny.
The Wakhan Corridor, once a bustling trade route, now stands as a geopolitical barrier, denying Pakistan direct access to Central Asia.
Pakistan has been struggling over the past decades under the influence of very unpredictable Afghanistan policies resulting in the effective closure of Pakistan’s access to Central Asia’s enormous natural and market resources. Twelve years ago, a corridor was forcefully drawn out of the soil of our country, a historical scar in the name of injustice, the same injustice that protected borders not with the villages’ or communities’ support or accord but decided by distant colonial powers.
Before these artificial lines were imposed, the lands now belonging to Pakistan had strong cultural ties and had participated vigorously in a centuries-old network of trade and exchange which linked communities across the writs of mountain passes. But today, knowledgeable of that heritage, the modern blockade stifles it, as Kabul’s mercurial stance and preferences for more regional players, especially India, deny Islamabad its right to its dammed economic conduit.
This denial goes way beyond mere inconvenience. It was a future that was threatened by the country’s dependence on unreliable transit routes, an energy deficient country looking to be self sufficient. Stoking regional insecurity, refusal of Afghanistan to facilitate direct trade not only hampers Pakistan’s economic prosperity but also ensures that Afghanistan’s ineffective economy is not replaced by Pakistan’s.
Its porous vulnerability makes the Wakhan Corridor a possible haven for militant groups, and an open gateway for extremist forces to drizzle over Pakistan, China and the wider Central Asian territory. It is more than a strategic nuisance. Such a scenario is an existential threat and deserves urgent, imaginative responses.
The challenge before Pakistan is to rethink its strategic options in the presence of these challenges. Suppose, for the fun of it, that some sort of public authority in Islamabad preaches that it negotiates with the status quo out of its self-interest, rather than inviting the control of the corridor to be undertaken by lawyers at their discretion. The country could reinstate a historic right, rejuvenating its economic future, whether through purchase, or lease, without even the daring act of tunnel construction—a lifeline connecting the country directly with the resource-rich Central Asian Republics.
Afghanistan’s policies prioritize regional players like India, sidelining Pakistan’s economic aspirations and reinforcing trade blockades.
Even though the corridor’s width spans from a near minimum of 15 to a maximum of 60 kilometers, the engineering hurdle is not insurmountable. In fact, this could be a beacon of regional integration, to trade but also rekindle sense of shared purpose among neighboring people pitted against one another since borders were drawn by the pen of perfunctory politicians.
But that wider story is setting the stage for that collision: old grievances and new ambitions on the stage of a striking natural beauty and political conflict. With Afghanistan, the Taliban’s policies paradoxically open up untouched airbases and trade routes to India while at the same time packing in their advances against Pakistan, making plain their obvious prejudice against the opposite regional interest. Kabul’s moves are short sighted but symbolic of a wider pattern of fingering together and excluding that has withered a part desperately searching for the joining point.
If history is anything to go by, Pakistan will need to make wise use of both the lessons of history and the tools of modern diplomacy. While pursuing multilateral pressure from China’s international stakeholders (Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China’s Belt and Road Initiative proponents, and key Central Asian nations), engagement with them would not only make sense but also would result in the necessary pressure to break the impasse. Such an approach from Pakistan would marginalize the legacy of colonial divisions yet also provide a platform for the coming of a time where economic fortune will not be held back for those who must not share it.
Pakistan must leverage multilateral diplomacy through China and Central Asia to push for regional integration and economic access.
This story unspools beyond a strip of land called the Wakhan Corridor. It is the symbol of the power geography not yet concluded and a call to reinterpret the geography of power. The corridor is a means by which Pakistan can bypass the things straitjacketed in the binds of history and current politics, it is a means to a better and brighter future in which trade, security, and prosperity will be rediscovered and the past will not decree what the future will look like.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.
