Wakhjir Pass

File:Afghanistan-China Boundary. 4-69. LOC gm70003373 cropped.jpg

{{see also|Wakhan Corridor}}

There is no road across the pass. On the Chinese side, the immediate region is only accessible to military personnel.{{Cite web

| title = Pamir & Wakhan - Getting there

| first = Julien

| last = Dufour

| work = Online Guide to Trekking in the Wakhan and Afghan Pamir

| access-date = 2017-02-03

| url = http://www.juldu.com/Pamir/getting_there.html

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171124104839/http://www.juldu.com/Pamir/getting_there.html

| archive-date = 2017-11-24

| url-status = dead

}} A {{cvt|92|km|mi|adj=mid|-long}} barbed wire fence was erected on the border, and there is a Chinese border guard outpost at Keketuluke just {{cvt|20|km|mi}} east of the pass.{{Cite web

| title = High alert

| author = Cui Jia

| website = China Daily

| date = 2014-09-25

| access-date = 2017-02-03

| url = http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-09/25/content_18657413.htm

| language = en

| quote = A barbed wire fence appeared after another 20 km west of Keketuluke. The fence separates China and Afghanistan amid the 92 km border area.

}} In the summer of 2009, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense began construction of a new road to within {{cvt|10|km|mi}} of the border for use by border guards.{{Cite web

| title = China Builds Closer Ties to Afghanistan through Wakhan Corridor

| author = Russell Hsiao, Glen E. Howard

| work = Jamestown Foundation

| date = 2010-01-07

| access-date = 2017-02-03

| url = https://jamestown.org/program/china-builds-closer-ties-to-afghanistan-through-wakhan-corridor/

}} The road leads through the Taghdumbash Pamir to the Karakoram Highway {{cvt|80|km|mi}} away. The valley to the east of Wakhjir Pass on the Chinese side is the Chalachigu Valley. It is entirely closed to visitors; however, local residents and herders from the area are permitted access.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} The Chinese refer to it as the portion of Wakhan Corridor in China.

On the Afghan side, the nearest major settlement is Sarhad (also known as Sarhad-e Broghil), about {{cvt|100|km|mi}} from the pass by paths.[http://www.mockandoneil.com/stg04r3.htm#faizabad J. Mock and K. O'Neil (2004): Expedition Report] Just below the pass on the Afghan side is an ice cave, at an altitude of {{cvt|4554|m|ft}}. This is the source of the Wakhjir River, which ultimately flows to the Amu Darya (Oxus). The cave is therefore claimed as a source of the Amu Darya. Dilisang Pass, to Pakistan, is in the same valley about {{cvt|20|km|mi}} away.

Construction of the road from Sarhad to Bazai Gonbad and then to the Wakhjir Pass in the northeast has started in late 2023.{{cite news |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/provincial-186226 |title=Ministry: Road Between Badakhshan and China Will Be Completed in 3 Months |work=TOLOnews |date=27 November 2023 |access-date=2023-11-29}}{{cite news |url=https://pajhwok.com/2023/11/28/traders-urge-govt-to-resume-work-on-wakhan-corridor/ |title=Traders urge govt to resume work on Wakhan corridor |work=Pajhwok Afghan News |date=28 November 2023 |access-date=2023-11-29}} In July 2024, the road construction completed and reached the Wakhjir Pass.{{cite news |url=https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/silk-road-highway-reaches-china-afghanistan-border-facilitating-historic-trade-routes/ |title=Silk Road Highway Reaches China-Afghanistan Border, Facilitating Historic Trade Routes |work=Bakhtar News Agency |date=6 July 2024 |access-date=2024-07-25}}

Traditionally, the pass is inaccessible for at least five months out of the year and is accessible irregularly for the remainder of the year.{{Cite web

| title = China and Afghan Opiates: China and Afghan Opiates: Assessing the Risk

| first = Jacob

| last = Townsend

| website = Silk Road Paper

| publisher = Institute for Security and Development Policy

| date = June 2005

| access-date = 2017-02-03

| url = https://www.silkroadstudies.org/resources/pdf/SilkRoadPapers/2005_06_SRP_Townsend_Opiates.pdf

| quote = The only border crossing is the Wakhjir Pass at an altitude of 4,927m, which is closed for at least five months a year and is open irregularly for the remainder.

| page = 36

}} The terrain is extremely difficult, although Aurel Stein reported that the immediate approaches to the pass were "remarkably easy".{{Cite book

| last = Stein

| first = M. Aurel

| author-link = Aurel Stein

| title = Ancient Khotan: Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan

| publisher = Clarendon Press

| year = 1907

| location = Oxford, UK

| volume = 1

| pages = 32

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FaMMAQAAMAAJ&q=remarkably%20easy&pg=PA32

}} 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. Wakhjir Pass is part of the Silk Road. It is believed that the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang traveled via this pass on his return trip to China in approximately 649 AD.{{Cite magazine

| last = Stein

| first = M. Aurel

| author-link = Aurel Stein

| title = Exploration in Chinese Turkestan

| magazine = United States Congressional Serial Set

| number = 748

| page = 752

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Neg3AQAAIAAJ&q=wakhjir+pass&pg=PA752

| publisher = Smithsonian Institution

| location = Washington, D.C.

| date = 1903-06-30

| access-date = 2017-02-03

}} Marco Polo purportedly crossed the pass when he traveled through the Pamirs, although he did not mention the pass by name.{{Cite web|last=Bostock|first=Bill|title=Afghanistan shares a tiny 46-mile border with China — here's the intriguing story of how the 2 countries became neighbors|url=https://www.insider.com/afghanistan-china-tiny-46-mile-border-what-it-is-like-2019-6|access-date=2020-07-14|website=Insider}} The Jesuit priest Benedict Goëz crossed from the Wakhan to China between 1602 and 1606. The next oldest accounts are from the period of the Great Game in the late 19th century.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 In 1868, a pundit known as the Mirza, working for the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, crossed the pass.Shahrani, M. Nazif. (1979 and 2002) p.31 There were further crossings in 1874 by Captain T.E. Gordon of the British Army,Keay, J. (1983) When Men and Mountains Meet {{ISBN|0-7126-0196-1}} p. 256-7 in 1891 by Francis Younghusband,Younghusband, F. (1896, republished 2000) The Heart of a Continent {{ISBN|978-1-4212-6551-3}} and in 1894 by Lord Curzon.Geographical Journal (July to September 1896) cited in [http://www.mockandoneil.com/stg04app.htm Mock and O'Neil 2004 Shipton Tilman Grant Application] In May 1906, Sir Aurel Stein crossed the pass and reported that at that time, the pass was used by only 100 pony loads of goods each way annually.Shahrani, M. Nazif (1979 and 2002) p.37 Since then, the only Westerner to have crossed the pass seems to have been H.W. Tilman in 1947.[http://www.mockandoneil.com/stg04app.htm Mock and O'Neil 2004 Shipton Tilman Grant Application]

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.{{Cite web

| title = International Boundary Study - Afghanistan – China Boundary

| author = Office of the Geographer

| date = 1969-05-01

| access-date = 2017-02-03

| publisher = Bureau of Intelligence and Research

| url = http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/limitsinseas/IBS089.pdf

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150103225351/http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/limitsinseas/IBS089.pdf

| archive-date = 2015-01-03

| quote = The Afghanistan–China boundary agreement, signed on November 22, 1963, was the fifth of these boundaries treaties initiated by the Chinese communists.

}}

It is believed that in more recent times, the pass is sometimes used as a low-intensity drug smuggling route, and is used to transport opium made in Afghanistan to China.{{Cite web

| title = Afghanistan border crossings

| work = Caravanistan

| access-date = 2017-02-03

| url = http://caravanistan.com/border-crossings/afghanistan/

| quote = It is mostly used as a low-intensity drug-smuggling corridor to bring opium to China during the summer.

}} Afghanistan has asked China on several occasions to open the border in the Wakhan Corridor for economic reasons or as an alternative supply route for fighting the Taliban insurgency. However, China has resisted, largely due to unrest in its far western province of Xinjiang, which borders the corridor.[http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200906111512.htm Afghanistan tells China to open Wakhan corridor route]. The Hindu. June 11, 2009 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108051455/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200906111512.htm |date=January 8, 2011 }}[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8097933.stm China mulls Afghan border request]. BBC News Online. June 12, 2009 {{as of|2009|12|alt=In December 2009}}, it was reported that the United States had asked China to open the corridor.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100613093607/http://www.southasiaanalysis.org//papers36/paper3579.html South Asia Analysis Group: Paper No. 3579, 31 December 2009]}}

Wakhjir Pass has a tundra climate (Köppen: ET) with an ice cap climate (EF) characteristics, With cold to frigid weather year-round. The warmest months of July and August are slightly above freezing. The area lies in continuous permafrost zone as the mean annual temperature is {{cvt|-11.7|C}}.

{{Weather box

|location = Wakhjir Pass

|metric first = yes

|single line = yes

|Jan mean C = −26.8

|Feb mean C = −24.6

|Mar mean C = -18.8

|Apr mean C = -10.9

|May mean C = -6.1

|Jun mean C = -1.8

|Jul mean C = 1.1

|Aug mean C = 0.2

|Sep mean C = -4.5

|Oct mean C = -10.5

|Nov mean C = -15.7

|Dec mean C = −21.4

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 8.5

|Feb precipitation mm = 12.5

|Mar precipitation mm = 13.5

|Apr precipitation mm = 31.3

|May precipitation mm = 19.6

|Jun precipitation mm = 20.6

|Jul precipitation mm = 15.4

|Aug precipitation mm = 18.5

|Sep precipitation mm = 10.7

|Oct precipitation mm = 7.9

|Nov precipitation mm = 9.8

|Dec precipitation mm = 6.9

|source 1 = ClimateCharts

{{cite web

|url=https://climatecharts.net/

|title = Climate: Zebak - ClimateCharts, Laura Zepner, Pierre Karrasch, Felix Wiemann & Lars Bernard (2020) ClimateCharts.net – an interactive climate analysis web platform, International Journal of Digital Earth, DOI: 10.1080/17538947.2020.1829112

|doi = 10.1080/17538947.2020.1829112

|s2cid = 225154815

|access-date = 1 March 2023|doi-access = free

}}}}

• Tegermansu Pass
• Beyik Pass
• Kilik Pass
• Mintaka Pass
• China–Tajikistan border
• China–Pakistan border

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{Cite web |url=https://earth.google.com/web/@37.0981006,74.48530429,4830.31923379a,1234.41502262d,35y,48.42185909h,60t,0r/data=KAI |title=Wakhjir Pass |format= 3D visual |publisher=Google Earth}}
• [https://www.akdn.org/publication/wakhan-afghan-pamir-footsteps-marco-polo Wakhan & the Afghan Pamir - In the footsteps of Marco Polo] - Brochure of the region by Aga Khan Foundation

{{Badakhshan Province}}

{{Xinjiang topics}}

{{Mountain passes of China}}

Category:Mountain passes of China

Category:Mountain passes of Afghanistan

Category:Mountain passes of Xinjiang

Category:Wakhan

Category:Afghanistan–China border

Category:Landforms of Badakhshan Province

Category:Sites along the Silk Road

Category:Mountain passes of the Pamir