Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
The Pamir Kyrgyz are the descendants of Kyrgyz who arrived in Afghanistan between 1575 and 1930 as a consequence of various threats and expulsions. Today, they live in the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of territory between Tajikistan, Pakistan and China, where mountain ravines are interspersed by remote valleys. Due to its geographical isolation, this ethnic group was largely untouched by sovietisation and was therefore able, for the most part, to preserve its traditional nomadic lifestyle and its language, ethnic identity and Islamic faith. Today, in the rugged terrain of the Pamirs, the Wakhan Kyrgyz tend their livestock and weather the harsh conditions. Until 1973, they numbered around 10,000 and counted as one of the official nations of the Republic of Afghanistan; they were also assigned the task of patrolling the region’s borders as part of the official border service (most have no official nationality or are stateless). Since then, their numbers have drastically declined due to the extreme social instability caused by ongoing conflicts and violence at the hands of the first Taliban regime. A further factor was the mass exodus of several large Afghan Kyrgyz clans to Pakistan, Canada and Turkey, where they were accepted as refugees.