Can Pakistan capture Afghanistan’s strategic Wakhan Corridor?
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.