The Wakhan Corridor (Dari: دالان واخان, romanized: Dālān-i Wāxān; Pashto: واخان دهلېز, romanized: Wāxān dahlez) is a narrow strip of territory in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. This corridor stretches eastward, connecting Afghanistan to Xinjiang, China. It also separates the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan in the north from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan regions in Pakistan in the south. This high mountain valley, which rises to a maximum altitude of 4,923 m (16,152 ft), serves as the source of both the Panj and Pamir rivers, which converge to form the larger Amu Darya River. For countless centuries, a vital trade route has traversed this valley, facilitating the movement of travelers to and from East, South, and Central Asia.
The corridor was formed after an 1893 out of British territory from now Pakistan after an agreement between Mortimer Durand of the British Raj and Emir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan, so that the Russian dominion, now Tajikistan would not touch British dominion, now Pakistan. This agreement also created the Durand Line which today forms the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was last conquered by the Durrani Empire in 1763. At the time it was carved out, the narrow strip acted as a buffer zone between the Russian Empire and the British Empire (specifically the regions of Russian Turkestan, now in Tajikistan, and the northern part of the British Raj, now in Pakistan). Its eastern end bordered China's Xinjiang region, then claimed by the Qing dynasty.
