Travel report: Afghanistan
Date of visit: September 2018
Welcome to Afghanistan
It was Friday 11 AM. I was standing at the gate in Islamabad and waited for my flight to Kabul. I looked at the other people who were at the gate and noticed that I am the only Non-Afghan. One or two men looked at me from time to time. They knew that I wasn’t from Afghanistan. My Nike sneakers, my blue jeans and my light-blue Michael Kors-shirt exposed me. I asked myself what these men were thinking. Would they call their Taliban friends after the landing and say that a suspicious foreigner was coming?
KamAir was the name of the carrier that should take me to Afghanistan. I have never heard of that airline before. It’s an Afghan airline, which offers flights to eight international destinations. Despite the fact that the airline was founded only 15 years ago, KamAir has already a fairly troubled past. In 2005, a domestic flight crashed and 104 people died. Seven years later, an incident with an overweight cargo flight was the reason that KamAir was banned within the European Union. In early 2018, nine staff member of KamAir were killed by the Taliban in one of the best protected hotels in Kabul. As a consequence, 50 foreign employees left the country so that the airline had problems maintaining their fleet. Many flights got canceled therefore.
My boarding pass was also a bit weird. It was just a white paper with some hand-writing on it. That creates trust between the airline and the passenger… not. The aircraft looked better than expected though. Sure, it wasn’t Singapore Airlines but I expected it to be more run-down. It was more than okay. So was the flight. It’s a very short flight from Islamabad to Kabul, as it only takes 45 minutes. The view on the flight was amazing. We flew over the Khyber Pass and the landscape from the bird’s perspective was incredible.
A few days before, I was asking myself how I would feel shortly before the landing in Afghanistan. Would I be nervous? Maybe scared? Was that the most stupid idea of my life? As a matter of fact, I was not nervous or scared at all but excited when I saw the houses of Kabul getting closer. The more we descended the more details I saw. I could see that every house had a wall around it, and I finally realized that I wasn’t on a trip to DisneyLand. Welcome to Afghanistan.
Why the hell did I go to Afghanistan?
Why does someone travel to one of the most dangerous countries in the world by choice? Fair question. I have booked the trip three months earlier. But honestly, the idea of going to Afghanistan didn’t come up then but one or two years ago. I have the goal to visit every country in the world, and decided to travel to the difficult countries rather sooner than later.
I’ve been to Iraq and Somalia in 2017, but I went to the more or less safe parts in those countries: Kurdistan and Somaliland. Now I wanted a more difficult challenge. I was thinking about Syria, Yemen or Afghanistan as my next destination and ended up with the latter. Why? Because it was the easiest and also the cheapest of those three. And also the safest? No, I definitely don’t think so. I think most parts of Syria are safer nowadays than Afghanistan. At least, you have a more or less functional government in Syria, while Afghanistan is a failed state.
However, it’s not that I chose Afghanistan for the adrenaline kick only. I truly believe that Afghanistan is one of the most interesting countries in the world. The country has incredible landscapes, an interesting history and a unique culture, which is sometimes hard to understand when you’re from the Western world. Afghanistan’s history was not very peaceful though in the past years. Unfortunately, Afghanistan has become the plaything of major powers in the last decades. The Sovjets invaded the country in 1979 and the USA in 2001. The US troops are still in Afghanistan, which makes this the second longest war in United States history (after Vietnam).
For people like me, who are interested in history and geopolitics, going to Afghanistan is very intriguing therefore. The only bad thing is that the safety situation has become even worse in the past two years. There was a time, let’s say between 2010 and 2016, when the situation in Kabul was much calmer. We are talking about two or three terror attacks per year. Now, you have one or two violent incidents every month.
So, why did I go? Because the statistics were on my side. They always are. No, seriously, the fact that Kabul has almost 7 million inhabitants was one of the most important factors which supported my decision. Although more than thousand people have already been killed in Kabul in 2018, that number still seems to be very small when you consider the size of the population. Another thing that gave me courage was chatting to people who had traveled to Afghanistan earlier this year. They gave me a better understanding of the whole security situation.
The reactions among my friends were similar. Most of them told me that I was crazy. Some of them even thought that I made a stupid joke and their answer was a simple laugh. However, a few of them wanted to join but couldn’t make it. I didn’t tell my mother my travel destination though. I knew that she would have countless sleepless nights if she knew that her son was going to Afghanistan. That’s why I said that I would spend two more days in Pakistan, the country I visited before Afghanistan. Lying to her wasn’t cool, but it was for her own good and I would do it again.
I originally wanted to go alone to Afghanistan (I mean without a guide). That would have been a stupid idea though. Kabul is extremely dangerous if you don’t have any local contact. Before I booked a tour, my idea was to couchsurf in Kabul. However, I asked myself what would happen if my host withdrew in the last minute. And even if he wouldn’t, would he pick me up at the airport? Or would I have to find his apartment by myself? I didn’t like these thoughts. Therefore, I skipped this idea and booked a private tour with Young Pioneer Tours.
Check out this article if you want to read more about the safety situation in Kabul and about my seven rules to stay safe there…
First impressions of Kabul
The airport in Kabul is a bit different from other international airports. People, who don’t have a flight ticket, can not enter the airport, not even the arrival hall. I had to leave the airport by myself therefore. I walked to the parking lot until I saw a guy holding a sign of Young Pioneer Tours. He introduced himself as Gull and he would be my guide for the next two days. “You’re from Basel? Basel has a very good football team,” Gull said. I was impressed, as I didn’t expected my guide in Afghanistan to know something about Swiss football.
It took only 10 minutes to get from the airport to the hotel. My hotel was not a typical one, as you couldn’t see a hotel sign on the building. When I booked the tour with Young Pioneer Tours, one of my conditions were that I wouldn’t stay in an international hotel, as these hotels are constantly being attacked by the Taliban.
Fortunately, my hotel wasn’t one, where you can knock on the door and ask for a room. It’s a hidden hotel that works with tour operators, NGOs etc. The hotel was also well protected, as soldiers controlled the people who went in out. You couldn’t see the soldiers from the outside though. First, our car went through a huge iron gate into a small courtyard. From there we went through a little house that served as a security checkpoint. Finally, we were inside the hotel.
To my surprise, the room was more than okay and I put on the local dress Gull gave me before in the car. As a security measure, it’s better not to stand out in Afghanistan.
Ten minutes later, we were back in the car heading towards Kabul’s city center. I was sitting in the back, and for the first time while traveling I felt uncomfortable. I mean REALLY uncomfortable, especially when our car was stuck in traffic jam. Before I made the decision to join this tour, I told Young Pioneer Tours that our driver has to avoid traffic jam, but I soon found out that that was almost impossible in Kabul. I thought about an incident in Mogadishu, just two weeks before I went to Somaliland in 2017, when a truck full of dynamite exploded at a busy junction. More than 500 people died. The same can theoretically happen in Kabul.
However, the longer we were inside the car the more I forgot where I was. I could finally take a look at the city without worrying too much. My first impression of Kabul was that it was a typical Middle Eastern-city (although Afghanistan doesn’t belong to the Middle East). If you look at the houses, you could think that you’re in Iraq or in Iran. Kabul is an old city with almost zero modern buildings and it’s also sandy and a bit dirty as it is in many other cities in this region.
My first day in Kabul was also a Friday, and Fridays are in the Muslim world what Sundays are in the Christian world. It wasn’t much going on, people were spending time home with their families and the city seemed calm and peaceful therefore. I would even go as far as to say that Kabul seemed like an oasis after spending three days in hectic and exhausting Lahore before.
Kabul’s sights and attractions
Young Pioneer Tour created an itinerary for me, which I checked out only briefly. I usually do a lot of research before I go to a place and decide what I want to do then. I didn’t do that when I was preparing for Afghanistan, as I wanted my tour guide to show me what he thought would be the most interesting for a tourist.
After visiting Babur’s Garden, a nice and calm park in the middle of the city, we headed to Ziarat-e Sakhi, a mosque in the Shia quarter. As the Shia Muslims are a minority in Afghanistan and often attacked by the Taliban, I wasn’t sure if that was the best idea. “Are you sure? Is it safe there?” I asked Gull. Gull assured that it wouldn’t be a problem during daytime. Going there during a religious ceremony would be too risky though. The mosque was beautiful. It reminded me a bit of the mosques in Samarqand in Uzbekistan or Isfahan in Iran.
We didn’t enter the mosque but walked around it. There were many people around the mosque. Most women didn’t wear a burqa but a hijab only. Shia Muslims are often less conservative than Sunnis, and in Kabul you recognize them from their black clothes.
Talking about the political situation at Qargha Lake
Visiting Qargha Lake was our program in the late afternoon. The lake is part of a reservoir, which is about 15 kilometers west of Kabul, and it seems that this is sort of the entertainment district near Kabul. There are numerous restaurants and shops around the lake, but I didn’t expected to see an amusement park with a ferris wheel and roller-coasters.
The whole area was beautiful and a nice oasis near Kabul. I used the time we had during our dinner to ask Gull questions about the political situation in Afghanistan. “Our relationship with the US-Americans is not the best anymore. When they first invaded Afghanistan in 2001, they needed about a month to liberate the country from the Taliban. Now and during the last 16 years they cannot do the same anymore? We don’t know what game the Americans are playing, but we truly believe that it isn’t their real interest to the Taliban. Our deal with the Americans was that they can get their bases in Afghanistan and we get peace. The Americans didn’t deliver.”
I wanted to know more about the Taliban, the Islamist terror group. “Do some of the Taliban live in Kabul?” I asked Gull. “No, usually not. Of course, some of them visit Kabul, because their relatives live here, but they don’t carry their weapons and you couldn’t tell that they are members of the Taliban. We even have the situation sometimes that a family has two sons, one is a soldier of the Afghan army and the other one is a Taliban.” I thought about that for a few seconds and I couldn’t imagine a more bizarre situation. “Although we don’t have the Taliban in Kabul, we have a lot of Taliban-mentality here,” Gull added. That means that many inhabitants of Kabul sympathize with the Taliban.
Gull also told me that the Taliban nowadays uses fighters from far away to execute attacks in Kabul, because the Taliban fighters with family in Kabul are afraid to do that. He explains that Afghan soldiers or families who lost relatives due to terror attacks sometimes avenge their loss by slaughtering the (innocent) families of the Taliban suicide bombers. The restaurant seemed to be a place for the upper-middle class. I looked at the people inside the restaurant. Young men smoking cigarettes, drinking tea and having dinner. They were talking to each other and laughing. I asked myself how it must be to grow up in a violent country like Afghanistan.
After finishing dinner, Gull showed me the area around the lake. We entered a little amusement park where the Afghans were enjoying their free time. It felt weird somehow to stand in the middle of an amusement park in Afghanistan. But it also confirmed what I noticed in Kabul: this place wasn’t a chaotic war-zone. People just live their daily life and most of them are never in a dangerous situation in their life. The image the international media gives us about Afghanistan is worse than reality.
I took a few pictures with my cell phone before we went back to our car. “Can I post some pictures of Afghanistan on social media while I’m here or should I better wait until I’m out the country?” I asked Gull. My guide assured that it wouldn’t be a problem if I post something on Facebook. “Can I also add the location to the picture?” The (very unlikely) idea that terrorists screen social media for potential victims came to my mind. “Well, when I have groups of western tourists I usually advise them not to add the location to their pictures as long as they are in the country.” Gull said. “But go ahead, you’re alone and you don’t stand out here.”
We arrived back at the hotel in the evening. I survived my first day in Afghanistan.
Second day in Afghanistan: the markets
The night was terrible. The watchdog of the hotel barked the whole night and I barely slept. Kabul gets pretty cold at night (the city’s elevation is 1,800 meters). It gets very hot during the day but chilly at night in September.
Gull was awaiting me in the hotel lobby. He was constantly telling me something about a bird market the day before, and that was the place we were heading to. I also asked Gull if we can walk more. We were sitting a lot in the car the day before, but I preferred to explore the city by foot. I didn’t know if it was a safety measure that we only left the car when we arrived at a sight but apparently it wasn’t. It’s definitely possible to walk around in Kabul and that’s what we did on the second day.
The second day was a Saturday. That means the city was full of people and cars, and it was way more busy than the day before. It was a surreal feeling to be in the middle of the crowd after entering the bird market. I still wore my traditional Afghan clothes and I tried to check out how the locals would react to me. My first impressions were that they didn’t take notice of me. I first thought that my sneakers could expose me but they didn’t. Gull wore sneakers too by the way.
The bird market was a nice little market with plenty of birds in small cages. Taking pictures wouldn’t be a problem according to Gull. However, I preferred to take quick and discreet snaps instead of taking pictures in a too obvious way.
The bird market wasn’t very big though, and we soon entered another market on the main street. That market was a much more common market with the usual stuff you find in countries of the Muslim world: fruits, spices, carpets etc.
“Don’t take pictures of women,” Gull said, while I was taking some snaps. A few women were walking towards me and I already forgot that Young Pioneer Tours sent me a document with behavior rules for Kabul, which included not taking pictures of women and military personnel. Another rule was that I shouldn’t take pictures of praying people. However, I haven’t seen anyone praying during my time in Afghanistan.
I still had the feeling that no one was taking notice of me. The people in Pakistan, where I was the four days before I went to Afghanistan, were constantly staring at me. It was obviously because of my western style clothes. In Kabul, I never had the impression that someone knew that I wasn’t from Afghanistan. I had eye contact sometimes with Afghan people and they looked away after one second. That wasn’t the case in Pakistan. I had several stare-downs there with no one looking away for a while.
Anyway, I felt safe on that second day in Afghanistan. I always tried to keep a low profile, and I think I absolutely succeeded. I also avoided to speak with Gull when we were on the streets among other people. The locals shouldn’t hear that I was a foreigner.
These first two markets were my highlight so far in Afghanistan. I was among other people and I could take a deep look into their faces. Despite the fact that many bad people live in Kabul, I didn’t see anger and bitterness in the faces of the locals. When I looked at them, I could see a kindness that I have rarely seen before. I guess, most of these people are just tired of constantly being harassed by terror groups and foreign forces.
The other market…
Gull told me that we were heading to another market, and I would be only the second tourist he was going to take to this place. “How much does a burka cost?” I asked my guide. “16-20 Dollars maybe.” That sounded like a fair price to me. I wanted to buy one as a present, although I didn’t know yet to whom I would give it. “This market will be different than the one we have been to before. You will see.” said Gull.
It didn’t take long until we arrived at the market Gull was talking about. The streets were full of people, and it was hard to find a way through the masses sometimes. I didn’t say anything but just followed Gull. He didn’t speak it out but I had the impression that this market was somehow more dangerous than the previous one…
We finally arrived at the store that sells burkas. The vendor showed us the different fabrics, although they all looked the same in my opinion. “I will take the cheapest one,” I said, as I didn’t have the intention to buy a high quality souvenir that no one will wear back home.
We left the market after the purchase, and Gull told me why he usually doesn’t take foreigners to this market. He was observing how the locals would react to me, and he felt that they didn’t notice that I wasn’t from Afghanistan. Gull explained that he had a bad experience when he took an American to this market. The guy was apparently over 2 meters tall and he had a ponytail. In other words: he stood out. It didn’t take long until the American was approached by locals. As the passing locals noticed that something was happening, many of them stopped and followed the conversation so that the American was surrounded by a big group soon. One of the locals was a young mullah, and he didn’t like the fact that a Christian was among the group. So he suggested beating the American up.
Gull immediately interfered and asked the young mullah what he was talking about. The young guy didn’t answer, but Gull explained to me that this was a dangerous situation. If only another local had agreed with the young mullah, you couldn’t have stopped the dynamics of the group anymore. Situations like that are probably the most dangerous in Kabul. As Gull said the day before, there is a lot of Taliban mentality in Kabul, and it’s way more realistic to have a bad encounter with a fundamental Islamist than being blown up by a suicide bomber.
It was already 11 AM and we visited a bakery to have some coffee. But not only coffee, as I had the best piece of red velvet cake ever. In Afghanistan! I remembered the encounter I had with a US-American near Machu Picchu. The guy was stationed in Afghanistan (and also in Iraq), and he told me that Kabul was a nice city. “At least you get a cappuccino in Kabul. I didn’t get that in the other Afghan cities,” he said. This guy immediately came to my mind when I was drinking my cappuccino in Kabul. He probably went to the same bakery.
Lunch & the Untamed Borders crew
It wasn’t the best idea to eat a big piece of red velvet cake half an hour before lunch. But I was hungry. Our restaurant was once again protected by a guy with a machine gun. I just thought ‘what would happen when 4-5 Taliban with firearms went out of a car and shot the security guard?’. It’s probably best not to think about such things when in Afghanistan.
Lunch was great. Generally, the food I had in Afghanistan was absolutely delicious. It reminded me of the cuisine in Iran: kebabs, rice, grilled vegetables, freshly baked bread… amazing. One of the most popular dishes in Afghanistan is Borani Banjan, an eggplant dish with yogurt, mint and garlic. It tastes fantastic, and I usually don’t even like eggplants. Seriously, the delicious food is another reason to visit this country!
Just when we finished lunch, a group of white people entered the restaurant. It was a group of British travelers led by Untamed Borders, another tour operator that is specialized in unusual travel destinations. I had a short chat with the group, they seemed very likeable and they were just about to finish their 10 day journey through Afghanistan. Nevertheless, I was thinking that I wouldn’t have been comfortable traveling in a group of white people through Afghanistan. What made me comfortable in Kabul was that I didn’t stand out. I am sure that this big group got noticed many times by the locals when they were on the streets.
It got even better. When we left the restaurant, we met Kausar Hussein, one of the most famous tour guides in Afghanistan (and co-founder of Untamed Borders by the way). If you have read my travel report about Pakistan, you might remember the guy who wanted to sell me an overpriced tour in Lahore. That was Kausar. I don’t blame him though, it’s just the way you make business here. If you cannot haggle, you’re lost anyway in this part of the world.
Shopping, heroin and the Taliban execution site
Chicken street was our last stop in the city. The main shopping street in Kabul sold only chicken in the early days but now you can buy anything from jewellery to carpets. I wasn’t sure in the beginning if I really wanted to visit this place, as one of the deadliest attacks in Kabul took place right at the corner of chicken street a few months before. In the end, I decided to go anyway.
Before you enter the shopping zone, you have to pass a military checkpoint right next to a hospital. This is where the attack happened. Gull explained that an ambulance full of dynamite exploded at the checkpoint. “How can an ambulance be full of dynamite?” I asked. “Well, this is Afghanistan. You never know who works with whom.”
I never understood how much damage these explosions can make. I mean, when I read an article about a suicide bomber or something similar, I had no idea how much the reach of the explosion will be. Let’s say a suicide bomber makes an attack in the middle of the crowd. How far do you have to be away from the detonation to be unaffected? 5 meters? 10? 20? In Kabul I learned that it’s way more. I saw the corner where the explosion took place. About 80-100 meters away, there was a house in Chicken Street that was completely damaged from the detonation.
We entered a shop that was specialized in fabrics. The owner immediately got us tea and sweets, much to the annoyance of two female customers who didn’t get offered anything. Gull later told me that the two ladies complained why they didn’t get something to drink. The owner said, however, that Gull was a regular customer and gets tea every time he visits. I rather think that the reason was because I was a tourist. And male. In the end, I bought a silk scarf for my mother. Sort of an apology because I lied to her about my travel plans.
Another thing we saw after leaving chicken street were the heroin addicts of Kabul. Afghanistan is the largest heroin producer in the world and the capital city is full of addicts. When you go to a certain district, you can see people taking their fix on the street. I saw numerous people taking drugs. There is a famous bridge under which the drug addicts meet. There were almost no people under the bridge when we passed by. The smell in this area was so terrible that I immediately wanted to leave again.
I asked Gull what happens when the police catches someone with drugs. I was thinking about Iran, a country that punishes the possession or consumption of alcohol with whipping. Gull said that they only take away the drugs and people are fine as long as they are not selling it. “50% of the Afghans smoke weed. Should they arrest all of them?” Gull asked. “Besides, prisoners are expensive and we don’t have enough prisons. If the police catches someone drunk, they just take him to the prison until he’s sober again.” I was baffled to hear such a thing in one of the most conservative country in the world.
Our final stop was the viewpoint on Bibi Mahru Hill. It’s just a short ride from the city center and the hill provides a 360° degree view over Kabul.
Another thing you will see on top of the hill is a dark tourism site. The Sovjets build a swimming pool there during their invasion, which was used as an execution site by the Taliban later. The Taliban threw their victims from the diving board into the empty pool.
It was quiet up there and you could hear the wind blowing. The cruelty of the Taliban made me think a minute. This is Afghanistan. And people are witnessing this brutality since decades. The swimming pool isn’t the only dark tourism site in Kabul. We passed the football stadium when we drove up to Bibi Mahru Hill. During their reign the Taliban executed one human being in front of the crowd before every game.
Bibi Mahru Hill was the last place we visited in Kabul. It was time for me to leave Afghanistan again. Gull and the driver took me to the heavily guarded airport in the early evening. My flight back to Istanbul was at 10 PM.
My travel experience in Afghanistan
The trip to Kabul was definitely my most extreme trip so far, but if I wanted an adventure that isn’t really one, I would have traveled to Bali. It was the grand finale of a 9 day trip through Central and South Asia, and Kabul was the perfect ending point of that journey. While I was very uncomfortable in the beginning, I got calmer the more time I spent in Kabul. In the end, I was relieved that I could leave Afghanistan with no harm, but I also felt that I wanted to see more of Afghanistan in the future.
There was one incident I didn’t write down yet. On the second day, we were in the car driving through Kabul when I suddenly heard a loud bang. It came from the car which was directly in front of us and a small object fell out of the exhaust pipe towards our car before black smoke came out of the exhaust. The bang was so loud that I winced and thought that my life was over. In the end, the car in front of us just had a problem with his exhaust, but you don’t want to hear noises like that in Afghanistan.
That leads to the most important question: is Afghanistan a safe country to travel? The answer is simple: no! Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous country in the world and traveling there entails certain risks. There are more or less safe parts in the country though. Mazar-i Sharif is definitely safer than Kabul. Herat too. However, just because Afghanistan is not 100% safe doesn’t mean that traveling there isn’t possible. I did a lot of planing and research, and I never experienced a dangerous situation in Afghanistan. I think they key to survive in Afghanistan is having good local contacts who know the country very well.
Afghanistan is a country that has more to offer than Kabul though. The country has incredible landscapes and it’s a shame that you cannot travel the whole country because of the safety situation. If you don’t believe me, just google “Afghanistan nature” and you will see that the country has parts that look stunning. But not only the scenery makes Afghanistan a country worth to visit. The food is exceptional and the Afghans I met were very kind and hospitable people. Moreover, the country is full of history and culture.
So, what’s the future for Afghanistan? It’s really hard to tell. Gull said that the tensions between the Afghan army and the Taliban are the most extreme since the conflict broke out. He added that this could be a good sign for the country, as this might be the final battle before peace comes. I cannot comment on that, it’s simply sad that a country is so troubled since 1979.
Oh, and before I forget… of course I had to tell my mother where I was when I came back home. Needless to say that she wasn’t amused. But I still think that I made the right decision by not telling her.
Find the travel reports of the other countries I’ve visited here!
