Chapter 1095 Wakhan Corridor

Wakhan Corridor.

Liu Tao is holding a telescope and looking at the terrain here.

The entire Wakhan Corridor is about 300 kilometers long from east to west, with the narrowest point from north to south being only 15 kilometers and the widest point being only 75 kilometers. It is the closest road from East Asia to West Asia.

The border between China and Afghanistan is only 22 kilometers, which makes Afghanistan the country with the shortest border among all the countries bordering China.

The entire Wakhan Corridor covers an area of ​​60,000 square kilometers, with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters. It is located between the Pamir Plateau and the Hindu Kush Mountains.

This 300-kilometer-long narrow valley from east to west is the closest road from East Asia to West Asia, and is also known as the "crossroads of Eastern and Western civilizations."

In ancient times, since Zhang Qian opened up the Western Regions, due to the threat of the powerful Xiongnu tribe in the north, the exchange of Eastern and Western civilizations had to be achieved by crossing the Pamir Plateau. The Wakhan Corridor is flatter than other places, so it has become an important part of the Silk Road.

Today, the Wakhan Corridor is barren, full of blizzards and disasters. It has been deserted for thousands of years and is still one of the most difficult and poorest areas on earth!

This is also a strategic location. For the safety of this place, troops are also deployed here.

This is truly a place where one man can block the way of ten thousand men. Unless both ends are conquered, it is impossible to conquer this place, even if you have to risk your life!

Liu Tao naturally knows the importance of Afghanistan!

From a geopolitical perspective, if any major power controls Afghanistan, it can control Central Asia to the north and contain polar bears, it can coerce it to the east, it can threaten Persia and control India and Pakistan to the south, it can reach the Middle East to the west to control the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and it can also reach Europe directly through the Black Sea, thus strangling the traffic throat of Europe, Asia and Africa.

It is also because of this that contemporary American geopolitical strategist Brzezinski called Central Asia the "Balkans of Eurasia".

Liu Tao is actually betting that the United States will not be able to conquer Afghanistan in 10 or even 20 years with its allies, and will continue to burn dollars and bleed in Afghanistan, and many Afghan regions will not be under the control of the coalition forces.

Just like now, the coalition forces have actually taken Kabul, but the war is still far away from here, and the war is more about coalition air strikes.

As for the coalition forces, they have never carried out air strikes within 50 kilometers of the border, and an air defense battalion deployed in the Wakhan Corridor has not launched an air defense missile so far.

"How are the supplies and medical support here?" Liu Tao put down the telescope in his hand and asked a middle-aged man next to him.

"Leader, supplies and medical support are improving. The conditions are much better than before. We have built a health support center here. If the soldiers are sick, they can also go directly to the health support center for treatment." Zhang Feng said with a grin.

Being stationed in the Wakhan Corridor for many years makes Zhang Feng's face look very vicissitudes.

Zhang Feng also participated in the war and made military achievements. Later, he was promoted many times. Five years ago, he was transferred to the mountain brigade commander and stationed in the Wakhan Corridor.

Zhang Feng looks like he is about to turn sixty, but in fact he is just 45 years old, which is the prime of his life.

"If it weren't for the humanitarian assistance to Afghan refugees, we could be self-sufficient by ourselves and don't need to transport supplies from the rear!" Zhang Feng said proudly.

The Wakhan Corridor spans the center of the Eurasian continent, close to the roof of the world, and is sandwiched by tall mountains and snow-covered plateau glaciers on both sides. The Wakhan Corridor has a plateau continental climate. The high altitude leads to low temperatures. The high altitude reaches sub-zero temperatures all year round, and the annual average temperature is only 6 to minus 8 degrees. The high mountains in the Wakhan Corridor are covered with heavy snow for more than eight months each year, and the temperature is relatively high only in summer.

The snow and ice in the Pamir Plateau in the north have melted, and the Wakhan Corridor has sufficient water resources. In addition, the river valley terrain is densely covered with rivers. The famous Wakhan River is here. It also merges with the Pamir River in the north to form the main trunk of the Panj River in Afghanistan. To the west of the Wakhan Corridor is the Tarkushgan River, which is one of the tributaries of the Tarim River in China.

The Wakhan Corridor is a special river valley, and there are some fertile alpine pastures at the foot of the mountains. The Wakhan Corridor, which is close to the Pamir Plateau, has a relatively flat river valley formed in the rugged alpine terrain due to the influence of plate action, glacier action and water flow. The flattest area is Mingtiega Pass. The active people here are the Tajiks, who generally live in groups around the foothills of the Wakhan Corridor.

There are nearly 100,000 people in the entire Wakhan Corridor. In recent years, fields have been reclaimed here to grow food and raise livestock. The output here can feed everyone.

It has to be said that Chinese people are born to be farmers. Even in a harsh environment like the Wakhan Corridor, they can do it themselves and have enough food and clothing.

Liu Tao nodded slightly. Just last year, the Wakhan Corridor announced that it had officially escaped poverty.

The cattle and sheep raised in the alpine pastures here are very popular and there is no shortage of buyers.

The national highway that took a lot of effort to build also allows things here to be shipped out and things from outside to be shipped in.

"Did the coalition forces provoke?" Liu Tao asked.

Outside the border, within a range of 50 kilometers, 400,000 refugees gathered. If the Americans launched an air strike, it would inevitably cause huge casualties to the refugees.

Zhang Feng said: "No, the coalition planes did not appear over the Wakhan Corridor."

"But they contacted us last month and asked us to expel those refugees or stop providing humanitarian assistance to them." Zhang Feng said.

Liu Tao said: "Don't worry about them."

Liu Tao showed disdain. Why do they think they have to do it just because they say so?

This is an important passage. Most of the weapons, equipment and supplies go through this route.

"There will be a batch of supplies passing through here at night. You must ensure the safety of this batch of supplies!" Liu Tao urged.

Zhang Feng hurriedly said: "Understood, leader!"

At night, dozens of transport vehicles passed through the checkpoint and entered Afghanistan.

This batch of supplies is worth about 300 million yuan.

But the effect they have produced may be 3 billion yuan or even 10 billion yuan.

That night, Liu Tao returned to ATS City. ATS City is close to Kashgar City and borders Kyrgyzstan. It is rich in fruits and vegetables, especially figs. It is known as the "Land of Figs".

This is also where a large number of arms and supplies of Panshan Group are concentrated. They are transported here by rail from other places and then transported to Afghanistan from here.

This is similar to HT City, except that HT City ships more to Islamabad and sells to the US military.

The most common orders on the China-Pakistan Railway are from the coalition forces, all of which are orders for various materials.