The Chicken's Neck: India's 20-Kilometer Strategic Chokepoint, and the World's Other Strange Ones
By BUGLE | July 2026 | Last updated: July 2026 Look at a map of India and you'll spot it immediately once you know where to look: a narrow waist of land in West Bengal, barely 20 kilometers wide at its tightest point, through which every road, railway line, and pipeline connecting mainland India to its eight Northeastern states must pass. Indian strategists call it the "Chicken's Neck." It's one of the most consequential pieces of geography in South Asia — and, as it turns out, one of several places on Earth where an accident of history left a country's territorial unity balanced on a startlingly thin strip of land. What's in this guide What the Chicken's Neck actually is · Why it exists — a 1947 accident · What makes it a live strategic concern in 2026 · How India is responding · Other strange chokepoints around the world · Why geography like this matters more than it should What the Chicken's Neck actually is Officially the Siliguri Cor...