Qal`eh-ye Panjeh

Province

Qala Panja (also Qila -e Panja, Qila -e Panjeh, Kila Punja, Kala Panja; persian قلعه بنج ) is a village in the Wakhan corridor in the far north-eastern Afghanistan. It belongs to the administrative district Wakhan in Badakhshan province.

It is 83 km from Ishkashim located at the entrance of the Wakhan corridor and is located in 2820 m height at a safe distance from the Panj, which is located 34 km upstream of the town from the confluence of the Pamir and Wakhan.

In 2002, 72 households were counted with 640 inhabitants in the village.

Near the village is the former hunting lodge of Mohammed Zahir Shah, the last king of Afghanistan.

While today is around 115 km further Wahkan lying Sarhad -e Broghil the last permanently inhabited place was in the days of the caravans Qala Panja the last place that could be bought at the food and pack animals for more than 300 km long route via the Pamir after Tashkurgan in Sarikol or in Turkestan, today Taxkorgan in Chinese Xinjiang.