increased its ties and influence as well in the region. Furthermore, all Central Asian Turkic-speaking states are together with Turkey part of the Turkic Council. Strategic locations In terms of strategic geography, Central Asia has several important routes through Eurasia, which conquerors would seek to dominate and utilize. Passes Wakhan Corridor: In Afghanistan, with Tajikistan to the north, Pakistan to the south and China to the east Khyber Pass: between Afghanistan and Pakistan Torugart Pass: between Kyrgyzstan and China Khunjerab Pass: between Pakistan and China Dzungarian Gate: between Kazakhstan and China Areas Eurasian Steppe Hindu Kush Iranian Plateau Tibetan Plateau The Great Game From 1813 to 1907, Imperial Russia and United Kingdom were engaged in a strategic competition for domination of Central Asia, known in Britain as the "Great Game", and in Russia as the "Tournament of Shadows." The British sea power and base in the Indian subcontinent served as the platform for a push Northwest into Central Asia, while the Russian empire pushed into the region from the North. The powers eventually met, and the competition played out, in Afghanistan, although the two never went to war with one another (see Durand Line). The British feared that Russian control of Central Asia would create an ideal springboard for an invasion of Britain's territories in the subcontinent (British India), and were especially concerned about Russia gaining a warm water port. They would fight the First and Second Anglo-Afghan Wars in an attempt to establish control over the region, and to counter the slowly creeping expansion of Russia. In 1907, the British signed the Anglo-Russian Convention which divided Afghanistan between the two powers and outlined the framework for all future diplomatic relations. Debated and Debatable zone Alfred Thayer Mahan, the father of U.S. geostrategy, outlined the geostrategic divisions of Eurasia in his 1900 piece The Problem of Asia and Its Effect Upon International Policies. He divided Asia into three parts: Russian dominated land to the north of the 40th parallel; British dominated lands to the south of the 30th parallel; and the Debated and Debatable zone located between the 30th and 40th parallels stretching from the Mediterranean to the Pacific, including Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and China which remained nominally independent from European colonization. Within this vast zone lie significant parts of Central Asia, including the regions of Tibet, Xinjiang, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Northern Iran, Anatolia and the Caucasus. Glacial