The American Analysis of Military and Security Development in the Wakhan Corridor (1980-2021)

Abstract

The report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense to the US Congress on "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China" (2020) points to Beijing's growing military presence in Central Asia, and attests to the strategic interest of this region both for NATO troops in Afghanistan and for Chinese authorities who wish to monitor the Wakhan corridor that interacts with the region of Xinjiang to control drug trafficking and terrorist threats. The American analysis can be traced back to the CIA's first reports on the issue, which in 1954, 1959 and 1980 looked at relations between the USSR and the young People's Republic of China in the same area, focusing on the question of cooperation and rivalry between Moscow and Beijing. Over three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, at a time when the countries of Central Asia are enjoying greater autonomy on the international scene, this policy brief analyses the reasons why the Department of Defense has taken a renewed interest in the region and summarises how Washington views the Wakhan Corridor (1954-2020) and development of the China - Central Asian and Sino-Russian relations in the post-Soviet world order.