The Taliban government has announced a ban on the entry of US and Pakistani citizens into the Wakhan corridor, a narrow mountainous area in eastern Afghanistan connecting the country with China, the IRAF news agency reports.
The report says that this decision was made due to "concerns about security issues and rising tensions." It is noted that in recent months, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan on the common borders have become seriously complicated.
The Wakhan Corridor is located along the border with Tajikistan and is of great strategic importance as a potential route for Afghanistan to reach China and Central Asian countries.
The report emphasizes that earlier, some accounts associated with Pakistani military circles threatened that Islamabad might try to capture Wakhan in order to gain access to Central Asia through the territory of Tajikistan.
Afghan experts believe that the Taliban's decision can be seen as a reaction to such threats, as well as a step to strengthen control over their own borders.
The ban on the entry of US and Pakistani citizens, according to Afghan analysts, can have a serious impact on bilateral relations and the overall security situation in the region.
Meanwhile, at the end of last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at a meeting with Afghan Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani in Kabul, suggested that Afghanistan resume joint patrols of the Wakhan corridor.
"China supports the early resumption of bilateral patrols of the Wakhan Corridor to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.
The Wakhan Corridor is a narrow strip in Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan, bordering Tajikistan, Pakistan and China. It is a mountainous area about 295 kilometers long and 15 to 57 kilometers wide in the valleys of the Pamir, Vakhan and Panj rivers.
