Wakhjir pass
| Wakhjir pass | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Compass direction | west | east | |
| Pass height | 4923 m | ||
| region | Wakhan District ( Badakhshan , Afghanistan ) |
Tashkorgan Autonomous County ( Xinjiang , PR China ) |
|
| Watershed | Wakhjir → Wachandarja → Pyanj → Amu Darya | Tashkorgan → Yarkant | |
| expansion | alpine transition | ||
| Lock | 5 months in winter | ||
| Mountains | Pamir / Hindu Kush | ||
| map | |||
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| Coordinates | 37 ° 5 ′ 41 ″ N , 74 ° 29 ′ 3 ″ E | ||
The Wakhjir Pass or Wachdschir Pass ( Chinese 瓦赫吉爾 山口 / 瓦赫吉尔 山口 , Pinyin Wǎhèjí'ěr Shānkǒu ; Pashtun کوتل واخجیر DMG Kōtal-e Wāḫǧīr ) is a high mountain pass with a peak height of 4923 m at the transition between Hindu Kush and Pamir at the eastern end of the Wakhan Corridor .
It is the only pass between Afghanistan and China . It connects Wakhan in Afghanistan with Tashkorgan in the People's Republic of China .
At this border there is a significant change in the timing of 3½ hours difference between China and Afghanistan, which is a world record.
description
The pass cannot be driven on; it can only be crossed on foot, horse or with pack animals. On the Afghan side, only an unpaved road leads to Sarhad-e Wakhan (Sarhad-e Broghil) over a distance of 100 km that cannot be driven. On the Chinese side there is a 15 km long runway on which all-wheel drive vehicles can drive. This slope leads to the Karakoram Highway, 80 km away .
The Wakhjir Pass is inaccessible for five months a year due to ice and snow. On the Afghan side, at an altitude of 4554 m, there is a glacier with an icefall that feeds the Wakhjir and flows into the Amu Darya , also called Oxus . The ice from this icefall is mined from Amu Darya and used there for cooling.
history
The area is inaccessible and there are few reports of successful foreigners crossing the pass. It is believed that Marco Polo walked this path, although he does not report about this pass. The Jesuit priest Benedikt Goës crossed it from Wakhan to China between 1602 and 1606.
Another report of a crossing is from the Great Game in the late 19th century.
In 1868, the Indian surveyor and explorer Mirza worked on the trigonometric survey of India and crossed the pass. Further crossings were made in 1874 by Captain TE Gordon of the British Army, in 1891 by Francis Younghusband and in 1894 by Lord Curzon , later Viceroy of India. In May 1906 Sir Aurel Stein reported that at that time this pass could only be crossed in one year up to a maximum weight load equivalent to the carrying capacity of 100 ponies . In 1947 HW Tilman successfully crossed the pass.
In 1895 this passport was confirmed in an agreement as part of the Sino-Afghan border between England and Tsarist Russia . It was not until 1963 that an agreement was reached between the states of China and Afghanistan participating on the border.
today
In 2011 the NATO and US armed forces committed to the economic opening of the pass. However, this effort has so far been unsuccessful due to different interests. Nowadays (2015) it is not possible for foreigners to cross the pass. It is occasionally frequented during the summer to smuggle opium into China.
Individual evidence
- ^ J. Mock, K. O'Neil: Expedition Report. 2004
- ↑ J. Townsend: China and Afghan Opiates: Assessing the Risk Chapter 4 ( Memento of the original of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.7 MB) June 2005
- ↑ M. Nazif Shahrani: The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan: Adaptation to Closed Frontiers and War University of Washington Press, Seattle 1979, ISBN 0-295-95669-0 ; 1st paperback edition with new preface and epilogue (2002), ISBN 0-295-98262-4 , p. 27
- ↑ M. Nazif Shahrani: 1979 and 2002, p. 31
- ^ J. Keay: When Men and Mountains Meet. 1983, ISBN 0-7126-0196-1 , pp. 256-257
- ^ F. Younghusband: The Heart of a Continent. 1896, new edition 2000, ISBN 978-1-4212-6551-3
- ^ Geographical Journal (July to September 1896) cited in Mock and O'Neil 2004 Shipton Tilman Grant Application
- ↑ M. Nazif Shahrani: 1979 and 2002, p. 37
- ^ Mock and O'Neil 2004 Shipton Tilman Grant Application
- ↑ International Boundary Study No. 89 - May 1, 1969 Afghanistan - ChinaBoundary ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) on law.fs.edu. Retrieved January 14, 2015
- ↑ Logistics: The High Road To China , on strategypage.com (English). Retrieved January 14, 2015
- ↑ Afghanistan Border Crossing , on caravanistan.com (English). Retrieved January 14, 2015
