Wakhan District
Wakhan
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A scenery in Wakhan | |
The location of Wakhan District within Badakhshan Province | |
| Coordinates: 37°07′45″N 73°37′07″E / 37.129240°N 73.618680°E | |
| Country | Afghanistan |
| Province | Badakhshan Province |
| Capital | Khandud |
| Government | |
| • District governor | Mawlavi Wajuddin Mazhari |
| Area | |
| • Land | 4,347 sq mi (11,258 km2) |
| Population | |
• Estimate (2025) | 17,213 |
| Time zone | UTC+04:30 (Afghanistan Time) |
Wakhan District is one of the 28 districts of Badakhshan province in eastern Afghanistan. It has an estimated population of about 17,213 people, mostly ethnic Wakhis, Pamiris and Kyrghyz. The town of Khandud serves as the district's capital. Mawlavi Wajuddin Mazhari is the current district governor.
The district of Wakhan has an area of approximately 11,258 km2 (4,347 sq mi), which includes the whole of Wakhan National Park and parts of Noshaq and Zorkul. There is a gravel road that passes in the district. It starts from Ishkashim in neighboring Ishkashim District in the west and ends at the Wakhjir Pass (Afghanistan–China border) in the far east. The closest major airport is Fayzabad Airport in the city of Fayzabad. All parts of the district are patrolled by the Afghan National Police and Afghan Armed Forces. Foreigners are required to have an Afghan visa, including a special permission letter from Afghanistan's Ministry of Information and Culture.
To the north of Wakhan is the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region of Tajikistan, to the east is the Xinjiang region of China, and to the south is Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.