The people who know no war

Afghanistan’s most isolated corner

AFP, WAKHAN CORRIDOR: “Taliban—what’s that?” asks Sultan Begium shyly from her freezing home in Afghanistan’s mountainous Wakhan Corridor, a region so remote that its residents are untouched by the decades of conflict that have devastated their country.

The frail-looking grandmother whose harsh life has etched deep lines in her face, is a woman of the Wakhi, a tribe of roughly 12,000 nomadic people who populate the area.

Known to those who live there by its Persian name Bam-e-Dunya, or “roof of the world”, it is a narrow strip of inhospitable and barely accessible land in Afghanistan bordered by the mountains of what is now Tajikistan and Pakistan, and extending all the way to China.

Few venture out, even fewer venture in—but this isolation has kept the Wakhi sheltered from almost forty years of the near constant fighting that has ravaged their fellow Afghans.

“War, what war? There has never been a war,” Begium says, poking at a dying fire of yak dung, though she remembers people speaking of Russian soldiers dispensing cigarettes on the border at the other end of the corridor.

Such decades-old anecdotes are all the tribe really know of the Soviet invasion and US-funded mujahideen fightback, a brutal nine-year conflict that may have left as many as one million civilians dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced.

The subsequent civil war, in which tens of thousands more people were killed and uprooted, and the rise of the extremist Taliban regime seem to them like folklore.

“Taliban are very bad people from some other country who rape sheep and slaughter humans,” says Askar Shah, Begium’s eldest son, who has heard stories about them from Pakistani traders.

There is little knowledge of the US invasion or the bloody resurgence of the Taliban, and more recently the emergence of the Islamic State group, that have killed or injured hundreds of thousands across the nation.

“Foreigners invaded our country?” Askar Shah asks incredulously after being told how America and its allies went to war with the Taliban regime in 2001.

“No, they can’t do that. They are good people,” he says.

Created in the 19th century as a Great Game buffer zone between tsarist Russia and British India, the corridor has since remained untouched by any kind of government.

It can be reached from surrounding countries, but only via treacherous journeys by horse, yak or on foot through the “Pamir Knot”, where three of the highest mountain ranges in the world converge.

The people who know no war

Afghanistans most isolated corner

AFP, WAKHAN CORRIDOR: Talibanwhats that? asks Sultan Begium shyly from her freezing home in Afghanistans mountainous Wakhan Corridor, a region so remote that its residents are untouched by the decades of conflict that have devastated their country. The frail-looking grandmother whose harsh life has etched deep lines in her face, is a woman of the Wakhi, a tribe of roughly 12,000 nomadic people who populate the area. Known to those who live there by its Persian name Bam-e-Dunya, or roof of the world, it is a narrow strip of inhospitable and barely accessible land in Afghanistan bordered by the mountains of what is now Tajikistan and Pakistan, and extending all the way to China. Few venture out, even fewer venture inbut this isolation has kept the Wakhi sheltered from almost forty years of the near constant fighting that has ravaged their fellow Afghans. War, what war? There has never been a war, Begium says, poking at a dying fire of yak dung, though she remembers people speaking of Russian soldiers dispensing cigarettes on the border at the other end of the corridor. Such decades-old anecdotes are all the tribe really know of the Soviet invasion and US-funded mujahideen fightback, a brutal nine-year conflict that may have left as many as one million civilians dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced. The subsequent civil war, in which tens of thousands more people were killed and uprooted, and the rise of the extremist Taliban regime seem to them like folklore. Taliban are very bad people from some other country who rape sheep and slaughter humans, says Askar Shah, Begiums eldest son, who has heard stories about them from Pakistani traders. There is little knowledge of the US invasion or the bloody resurgence of the Taliban, and more recently the emergence of the Islamic State group, that have killed or injured hundreds of thousands across the nation. Foreigners invaded our country? Askar Shah asks incredulously after being told how America and its allies went to war with the Taliban regime in 2001. No, they cant do that. They are good people, he says. Created in the 19th century as a Great Game buffer zone between tsarist Russia and British India, the corridor has since remained untouched by any kind of government. It can be reached from surrounding countries, but only via treacherous journeys by horse, yak or on foot through the Pamir Knot, where three of the highest mountain ranges in the world converge.