Akhnoor Dagger

Akhnoor Bulge, (named Akhnoor Dagger by Pakistani Military, and as Pakistan's Akhnoor Chicken's neck Corridor by Indian Military) is the name for a narrow strip of Pakistani territory that extends into the Indian administered-Jammu and Kashmir south of Akhnoor. This sensitive piece of land, which lies on the settled International Border but adjacent to the de facto Indo–Pakistani border on the west side of the disputed region Jammu and Kashmir, is part of Punjab Province's Sialkot District and measures roughly 170 km² (66 sq mi).

Akhnoor is less than 30 km from Jammu in India and less than 50 km from Sialkot in Pakistan. While Akhnoor Bulge was not a primary focus of a major offensive during Indo-Pakistani war of 1947–1948, 1999 Kargil War, 2025 India–Pakistan conflict, and during Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 India held Akhnoor Bulge before it was returned to the Pakistan under the Simla Agreement of 1972, the Akhnoor Bulge saw a major Pakistani attack only during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 (Operation Grand Slam) in which Pakistan eventually failed after making some initial gains.

Earlier in 1965, when Akhnoor had only one bridge before India embarked on significant infrastructure development, the tip of the Pakistani area was less than 10 km from the only bridge across the Chenab River at Akhnoor in India. In the 1965 war (Operation Grand Slam), Pakistan viewed the capture of the Akhnoor Bridge as a means of cutting Jammu and Kashmir—especially the Poonch and Rajouri districts—from the rest of India, as it was perceived as the sole corridor between mainland India and most of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

However, this Akhnoor Bulge being a "dagger" or India's "Chicken's Neck" vulnerability, as perceived by Pakistan in 1965, has since been described by some analysts as a strategic myth, "the so-called 'Chicken's Neck' or Akhnoor Dagger area... proved to be a liability for Pakistan rather than an asset in the 1971 war when Indian forces successfully captured the area". This is evidenced by India's swift 1971 capture of the area, which effectively negated the perceived threat to Akhnoor. Any perceived vulnerability of India is further mitigated by improved infrastructure development by India, which now has many more high-capacity bridges and numerous alternate transport links connecting Jammu to Akhnoor and India to wider Jammu and Kashmir region, providing redundancy and resilience to the military supply lines.

In fact, the area has been argued to be a Pakistani vulnerability, as the land is a narrow doab between the Chenab and Tawi rivers surrounded by India from three sides, and is further doubly-isolated from the rest of Pakistan by the Chenab–Munawar Tawi doab to its southwest within Pakistan.