Urta Tagay (russian: Урта-Тагай, Urta-Tagay, also ) is an island in the middle of the river Panj (a source river of the

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...

) on the border of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. It lies between the towns Farkhor and Yangi Qala. It is administered by Takhar Province, Afghanistan. It was the subject of two border conflicts: one in 1913 and another in 1925. In 1925, claiming that the main channel of the river had shifted to the south of the island, placing it in Soviet territory, Soviet troops occupied the island. Despite the diplomatic claim, it is believed the island was seized to prevent Uzbek rebels from crossing the river to attack the Soviets.

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

protested the seizure, and the dispute was taken to a joint commission which decided in favour of Afghanistan. Afterwards, the island was returned.

Sources

*J. Bruce Amstutz. ''Afghanistan: The First Five Years of Soviet Occupation''. DIANE Publishing, 1994 , 978-0-7881-1111-2
Available here.

References

Landforms of Afghanistan Afghanistan–Tajikistan border River islands of Asia {{afghanistan-stub