evidence: Afghanistan and China share a 74-kilometre border in the remote Wakhan Corridor, a narrow stretch of land in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province between the Pamir, Hindu Kush, and Karakoram mountain ranges. [...] The Taliban takeover of the corridor could be the first step to gaining international legitimacy from China ahead of fresh negotiations with the Afghan government, says Lowy Institute research fellow and former army officer Dr Rodger Shanahan. [...] Meanwhile, residents of the Wakhan Corridor – most of whom are from the Tajik, Wakhi and Kyrgyz ethnic minorities and belong to the Shiite Ismaili sect of Islam – fear persecution at the hands of the Taliban, who adhere to a strict interpretation of Sunni Islamic doctrine.