To invade Afghanistan, the Chinese would have had to build a highway over the Wahkjir Pass into Badakhshan (and possibly a tunnel beneath the pass) probably at the same time it was building the Karakoram Highway to Paistan. The Wakhjir Pass , at 16,152 feet high is about 1500 feet higher than the Khunjerab Pass to Pakistan and even more subject to closure in the winter and by mujihadeen.
And an invasion of Afghanistan would complicate China's relationship with Pakistan (but would make a lot of sense as a bridge to Iran). Frankly, the whole scenario would make sense only in the context of a much moe militarized (and antagonistic to the US) China, perhaps run by Lin Piao if he had prevailed against Mao Zedong (instead of having his coup fail and his plane blown up over Mongolia ITTL.). see reference from Wikipedia
Wakhjir Pass
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Wakhjir Pass
Elevation 4,923 m (16,152 ft) Location
Afghanistan /
China Range Pamirs Coordinates
37°05′14″N 74°29′03″E / 37.08722°N 74.48417°E / 37.08722; 74.48417Coordinates:
37°05′14″N 74°29′03″E / 37.08722°N 74.48417°E / 37.08722; 74.48417 The Wakhjir Pass (
simplified Chinese: 瓦赫吉尔山口;
traditional Chinese: 瓦赫吉爾山口;
pinyin:
Wǎhèjí'ěr Shānkǒu;
Wade–Giles: Wa3-ho4-chi2-erh3 Shan1-K'ou3;
[1]Persian: کوتل وجیر
Kōtal-e Vakhjīr) is a mountain pass in the
Hindu Kush or
Pamirs at the eastern end of the
Wakhan Corridor, the only pass between
Afghanistan and
China. It links
Wakhan in Afghanistan with the
Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous CountyXinjiang, China, at an altitude of 4,923 m, but the pass is not an official border crossing point. The border has the sharpest official change of clocks of any international frontier (
UTC+4:30 in Afghanistan to
UTC+8,
China Standard Time, in China). in
There is no road across the pass. On the Afghan side the nearest road is a rough road to
Sarhad-e Wakhan (also known as Sarhad-e Broghil
[2]), about 100 km from the pass by paths. On the Chinese side there is a jeep track about 15 km from the pass, which leads through the
Taghdumbash Pamir to the
Karakoram Highway 80 km away. In the summer of 2009 the Chinese Ministry of Defence began construction of a new road to within 10 km of the border, for use by border guards.
[3] The pass is closed for at least five months a year and is open irregularly for the remainder.
[4]
Just below the pass on the Afghan side is an ice cave, at an altitude of 4,554 m. This is the source of the Wakhjir River, which ultimately flows to the
Amu Darya (or Oxus). The cave is therefore claimed as a source of the Amu Darya.
The terrain is extremely difficult, although
Aurel Stein reported that the immediate approaches to the pass were "remarkably easy".
[5] There are few records of successful crossings by foreigners. Historically the pass was a trading route between
Badakhshan and
Yarkand used by merchants from
Bajaor.
[5] It appears that
Marco Polo came this way, although he did not mention the pass by name. The Jesuit priest
Benedict Goëz crossed from the Wakhan to China between 1602 and 1606. The next accounts are from the period of
the Great Game in the late 19th century.
[6] In 1868, a
pundit or Indian surveyor known as the Mirza, working for the
Great Trigonometric Survey of
India, crossed the pass.
[7] There were further crossings in 1874 by Captain T E Gordon of the British Army,
[8] in 1891 by
Francis Younghusband,
[9] and in 1894 by
Lord Curzon.
[10] In May 1906 Sir Aurel Stein crossed, and reported that at that time the pass was used by only 100 pony loads of goods each way annually.
[11] Since then the only westerner to have crossed the pass seems to have been
H W Tilman in 1947.
[12]
In 1895 the pass was established as the border between China and Afghanistan in an agreement between the British and the Russians, although the Chinese and Afghans did not finally agree on the border until 1963.
[13]
[edit] References
- ^ Ludwig W. Adamec. Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan Vol. 1. Badakhshan Province and northeastern Afghanistan. Graz : Akad. Druck- und Verl.-Anst., 1972.p. 185.
- ^ J. Mock and K. O'Neil (2004): Expedition Report
- ^ Jamestown Foundation China Brief 7 January 2010
- ^ Townsend, J. (June 2005) China and Afghan Opiates: Assessing the Risk Chapter 4
- ^ a b Stein, Mark Aurel (1907). Ancient Khotan. p. 32.
- ^ Shahrani, M. Nazif. (1979) The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan: Adaptation to Closed Frontiers and War University of Washington Press, Seattle, ISBN 0-295-95669-0; 1st paperback edition with new preface and epilogue (2002), ISBN 0-295-98262-4 p.27
- ^ Shahrani, M. Nazif. (1979 and 2002) p.31
- ^ Keay, J. (1983) When Men and Mountains Meet ISBN 0-7126-0196-1 p. 256-7
- ^ Younghusband, F. (1896, republished 2000) The Heart of a Continent ISBN 978-1-4212-6551-3
- ^ Geographical Journal (July to September 1896) cited in Mock and O'Neil 2004 Shipton Tilman Grant Application
- ^ Shahrani, M. Nazif (1979 and 2002) p.37
- ^ Mock and O'Neil 2004 Shipton Tilman Grant Application
- ^ International Boundary Study No. 89 (1969) US Bureau of Intelligence and Research