ABSTRACT
The Wakhan Panhandle is a creation of The Great Game of the 19th century. The western two-thirds of the region were delimited by the Russo-British Agreement of 31 January 1873, and the demarcation was confirmed by Afghanistan and the Soviet Union between 1947 and 1948. This part of the boundary was also covered by the Treaty Concerning the Regime of the SovietAfghanistan State Frontier. The eastern third, from Sari Qul, was delimited by a Russo-British Exchange of Notes and confirmed by the AfghanistanSoviet Union Treaty on Border Demarcation of 16 July 1981. Indeed, the Panhandle was considered of such strategic importance, particularly as a conduit for the movement of arms to the mujahidin, that it was controlled directly by the Soviet Military Southern Headquarters at Tashkent. During the 1980s and the civil war in Afghanistan, and again in 1990 when support was provided for the Islamic uprising in Xinjiang, the Wakhan Panhandle was an important route for arms smuggling.
