Can Pakistan capture Afghanistan’s strategic Wakhan Corridor? Pakistani analyst warns Islamabad, says China will…

According to experts, Pakistan should refrain from launching an offensive in the Wakhan Corridor. at a time when its embroiled in a raging conflict with the Tehreek-e-Taliban  Pakistan (TTP) terrorists, and stands on the brink of an all-out Pakistan Taliban war, amid strained ties.

Pakistan-Taliban war: Amid heightened tensions between Kabul and Islamabad and the looming threat of a full-blown Pakistan-Taliban war, Wakhan Corridor, a strategic narrow strip of land in Afghanistan, has become the focal point of discussion over the past few days after reports emerged, claiming that Pakistan was planning to seize control of the key region.

The Wakhan Corridor holds strategic importance for Pakistan as well as its “all-weather ally” China, however, a senior Pakistani analyst has cautioned Islamabad against any miliary action in the region.

‘China won’t like it’

Imtiaz Gul, a renowned Pakistani author and regional security analyst, believes Wakhan Corridor shares a common border with China, and Beijing will not like any military action on its border, even if its carried out by a trusted ally like Pakistan. China has built a large military post on the Wakhan border, which is tasked with preventing the entry of extremist elements from Afghanistan into China’s ethnic-dominated Xinjiang province.

The senior analyst notes that China already has a military presence on the Wakhan border since 2014, Pakistan risks upsetting Beijing and further damaging its ties with the Afghan Taliban if it carries out any military offensive in the strategic corridor. Notably, a Chinese state-owned petroleum company inked a deal with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban in January 2023 to extract oil and gas in Amu Darya (Amu River) region, while in April 2023, Beijing signed another agreement with the group to extract lithium in Afghanistan.

According to experts, Pakistan should refrain from launching an offensive in the Wakhan Corridor. at a time when its embroiled in a raging conflict with the Tehreek-e-Taliban  Pakistan (TTP) terrorists, and stands on the brink of an all-out Pakistan Taliban war, amid strained ties.

Pakistan planning to capture Wakhan Corridor

Recently, reports emerged that Pakistan and China are plotting to capture the strategic Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of territory in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, which stretches eastward, connecting Afghanistan to Xinjiang, China. According to a senior Pakistani analyst, Pakistan and China are planning to capture Wakhan Corridor from Afghanistan as it holds strategic importance for both nations.

If the two allies manage to capture the key corridor, it would provide China direct access to Pakistan, while the latter will also gain easy access to Central Asia through Tajikistan. In 2021, when the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, Islamabad had hoped that it would get unrestricted access to the Wakhan Corridor, but ties between the two have since hit rock bottom and the two neighbours are even staring at a potential full-blown Pakistan-Taliban war.