KABUL — Afghanistan's Taliban-led government announced the opening of a new road to its border with China on Oct. 4, a project completed through the remote Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan province. The unpaved gravel track cost 365 million afghanis, equivalent to $5.5 million, and leads directly to the Wakhjir Pass at nearly 4,900 meters altitude.
China has not established a customs facility on its side of the frontier. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued no public statement on the road's opening or plans to allow commercial traffic across the pass. The Wakhjir Pass remains snowbound for at least five months each year, with only sporadic crossings possible during other periods.
The Wakhan Corridor is a narrow, 350-kilometer stretch of land entirely within Afghan territory, connecting Afghanistan to China and bordered by Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south. An 1895 agreement between Britain and Russia defined Afghanistan's northern boundary, leaving Wakhan under Kabul's control as a buffer zone with British India. Afghanistan and China did not formally settle their shared border until 1963.
The Taliban government hopes the road will establish new trade routes and reduce Afghanistan's economic reliance on Pakistan. Discussions for a road through Wakhan began in June 2009, but the project stalled due to the corridor's rugged terrain and Chinese security concerns about potential access for Uighur fighters.
Construction began in 2019, according to Javid Qaem, a former Afghan ambassador to China. Approximately 60 kilometers of road were completed before the Taliban takeover in August 2021 paused the project. Work resumed and concluded in two phases by Afghanistan's Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.
