Safety Tips in Afghanistan

Travel + Leisure magazine recently rated the most dangerous countries in the world and they placed Afghanistan 11th. This list came even after the recent increase in hostilities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. When we were there just under two years ago, there was usually a sense that you could be in danger but not a sense of foreboding. I met a couple dozen Afghans who were not employees of any government nor hospitality industry outlet. Many were students. We saw many of them nearly every day that we were there. We ate in their homes. We ate with them in public places. We shopped with them in their bazaars. We walked the streets by day or night, although never alone. Never have I begun to develop so many genuine relationships during such a short trip. I was aware that there was danger around but I did not have any inordinate sense of fear. The only concessions that I think we really made to the realities of war was that we received daily security updates from the UN team which had offices near where we stayed and we reminded ourselves from time to time that there are people in that area who seriously dislike what we stand for and might, if the circumstances came together in the wrong way, be more than willing and able to do us serious damage.

This is what Travel + Leisure magazine said about Afghanistan on 12 August:

The Allure: Tombs, historic teahouses, ancient market towns, and the country’s first national park are all worth your time. Afghanistan’s director of tourism (yes, that’s right) says many of the country’s old castles and archaeological sites will one day be repaired and open to visitors.

The Warning: Americans are strongly warned against travel to Afghanistan. Much of the nation is a war zone. Foreigners are key targets for kidnappings and terrorist attacks. “Carjackings, robberies, and violent crime remain a problem,” says the State Department travel warning.

Go or No? When peace comes, Afghanistan’s director of tourism may find himself busy. But not yet. In the meantime, hard-core adventurers can contact Pamir Travel in Fremont, CA.

The photo with this Tip was taken by Ahmad Masood of Reuters, although this was a relatively common sight when we were in Afghanistan.

With almost all countries that have had or currently wars within the last century will have a problem with unexploded ordnances (UXOs) and Afghanistan is no different. A lot of the minefields from the Soviet days are marked and lots of stuff has been cleaned up. But there is a new war going on especially in the south which is making more UXOs. Leave them alone as they are designed to kill and maim and just because it didn't go off does not mean that they won't. I have heard stories that sometimes at sunset UXOs will go off just because of the sudden change in temperature. That's how sensitive some of this stuff can be.

The Taliban which means "student" in Pashto ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. They were well known for their strict interpretation of Islam. Women effectively had no rights. They could not work or go to school, be seen out in public without a man and without being covered from head to toe and be touched by another man which meant they couldn't even see a doctor (all doctors were men because women could not work). Kids were not allowed to fly kites and music was forbidden. Beware if you broke any of these rules because they really liked their public executions. The leader of the Taliban is Mullah Mohammed Omar who allowed Osama Bin Laden to live in Afghanistan and train Al-Qaida. The Taliban was only recognised by 3 official states of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. Maybe the only positive thing they done was to halt almost all of the opium production in Afghanistan. In March 2001 they recieved criticism from all around the world when they destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan. In late 2001 they were ousted from power by the Northern Alliance and USA air power for not handing over Osama Bin Laden.

Today now they are an insurgent group that conducts guerilla operations against coalition forces, especially in the south. They seem to get members from all over the Islamic world but a lot of them are from Pakistan. They also target civilians that work with coalition nations even if it is as simple as building roads funded by coalition nations. They are a very serious threat and areas with active Taliban should be avoided.

Anyone who has travelled a bit in developing countries would be used to this. Afghanistan is no different with Police Checkpoints. With all the action still happening in Afghanistan there are a lot of these checks going on especially with the insurgents. The Afghan National Police are still new with this but for the most part seem uncorrupt but I have heard of lunch money going missing. Currently they are often supported with coalition forces which you should have nothing to worry about then. The real reason I did this tip is because I wanted to show off a picture of a police checkpoint in a developing nation. How often can you get away with that.

The Pakistan embassy in Kabul refuses to give transit or tourist visas for onward travel to Pakistan.

A visa for travel onward to Pakistan must be issued before you enter Afghanistan.

Otherwise it will cost you an expensive flight to Delhi.

As with Pakistan embassies in India and Afghanistan, they are unhelpful, due to the under staffing issues.

The counters only open for a very short time, and extreme pushing and shoving is required to get to the counter before the windows shut at unannounced times
These extreme problems occurred during June, July 2006

u'll find plenty of westerners telling you not to do this or not to go there.
that's full rubbish by those who know nothing and just want to impress you.
the country's perfectly safe. there are less landmines than you think, and only in areas well known by locals and usually marked by regularly-spaced heaps of colored stones. just walk where all others walk.
at time of writing, it's pretty safe to take the desert highway via kandahar, but i wouldn't step out there.
talibans only mess out in provinces bordering pakistan.
the central route is perfectly safe. so is the north.

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Opium production in Afghanistan is on the rise and its now the world's leading producer of opium. Drug lords exist with little threat to their operations.

We met Mirwais Yasini, the head of the anti-narcotics dept in Kabul, and he was a concerned man too. A small task force he leads, compared to the size of the problem. Production has gone up many-fold over the past few years, and there is reason to believe that some of the proceeds go in to funding the Al Quaida etc.

The main problem however is that the lure for the farmer to grow opium is really high...In a country where annual incomes barely reach $170, farmers can earn up to $6,500 a year from opium production, they can make up to 38 times as much growing opium as they can from wheat. Opium has long been used as a traditional medicine in Afghanistan, but now its illegal to grow poppy.The Karzai government has often come up with schemes to get opium farmers to shift away from poppy cultivation, but its never really worked very effectively compared to the opportunity cost...

The police and narcotics dept will put you thru a pretty thorough search on your way out of the country at the airport... your suitcase may go thru some rough moments. So pack with care...

At times in your trip people may try to kill you. Killing them first is the only way to rest assure that youll live to fight another day. Luckily all the attempts on my life were so amateurish I often never saw the people who had tried to harm me, and i never had to kill another human being. My friends werent always so lucky and two good buddies ended up losing a hand and a leg before it was all over.