Recent hostilities along the Durand Line, which runs along the disputed border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, may have a broader context than it appears at first glance. According to The Wall Street Journal, the current escalation of the conflict is viewed by the U.S. administration as a way to create a "sanitary cordon" around Iran. With Western fleets controlling maritime routes in the Persian Gulf, the land route through Afghanistan and Pakistan has remained China's only reliable way to supply aid to its Iranian partner. However, this corridor is now virtually blocked.
According to analysts at Reuters, based on diplomatic sources, the U.S. is effectively leveraging Islamabad's dependence on its military resources to further its strategic interests. By supporting the Pakistani leadership in its fight against the Taliban, Washington aims for the complete isolation of Iran's eastern borders. While Israeli and U.S. air forces strike Iranian targets as part of Operation "Shield of Judah," the conflict along the Durand Line, where Pashtun tribes reside, deprives Tehran of the ability to receive cargo supplies from Xinjiang. Any efforts by Beijing to support Iran are confronted with the reality of active hostilities, where the security of transit cannot be guaranteed.
In a comment to RIA Novosti, orientalist Alexander Knyazev noted that the destabilization of the border area negatively affects Xi Jinping's "project of the century" — the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The expert believes that the U.S. benefits from maintaining conflict in this region, as it forces Beijing to spend enormous resources on securing its infrastructure in Pakistani Balochistan, diverting attention from aiding Iran. The escalation along the Durand Line threatens Chinese investments, turning Beijing's strategic routes into a zone of constant risk.
According to The New York Times, the American strategy aims at "locking" Chinese influence within its borders. While Pakistan and the Taliban continue mutual attacks in the mountainous terrain, designing direct routes from China to Iran through the narrow Wakhan Corridor remains at the planning stage. As reported by Al Jazeera, Beijing finds itself in a difficult situation: supporting one side of the conflict will inevitably lead to a loss of trust from the other. This deprives China of the opportunity to act as a regional arbiter and hands the initiative to the U.S., which, by controlling Pakistani logistics, can set the terms for cargo transportation. As a result, what may seem like a chaotic war between Kabul and Islamabad actually serves as a mechanism for containing the Iranian economy and undermining China's ambitions.
