Afghanistan - Getting In

Boy, if you hate crowded hiking trails and booked hotels, have we got a place for you. Although the U.S. State department says don't go, the Talibs say don't go and the north says don't go, Afghanistan is number one with a bullet for people who want to visit dangerous places. There is no U.S. embassy at the moment (hell, there's no anything at the moment), The NGOs keep their bags packed and no one quite knows who's in charge at any one time. The Talibs are here to stay, but that doesn't mean there is an long-term sense or logic regarding their entry policy for foreigners.

Journos and scribes are officially welcomed by the Taliban and then never given visas to enter. The Red Cross needs Talib approval for all journos before you can book a flight. Same goes for the UN. There are a number of restrictions, advance notice and permission requirements so contact:

Flight Operations UNOCHA/UNDP Islamabad

Tel: +92 (51) 211451-5

Fax: +92 (51) 211450

E-mail: unocha@undpafg.org.pk

Once inside journos have to comply with a two page list of do's and don'ts, which oddly enough includes having your picture taken in a place where taking pictures of living things is forbidden. Being beaten every time you whip out a camera does put a damper on bringing in a Betacam crew. If you are sponsored by an NGO you must only cover the activities of that group. If you somehow get it just to look around, you must stay at the Intercontinental, hire a guide and a driver who maintains his lonely vigil in the lobby. Figure on doubling the rate when you go to the front lines. Strangely, if you are not a journalist there are no laws to restrict your movement. And techncially, once outside Kabul you are free to do what you like (other than photograph people or, as a male, interview women). In the north, you must register in Mazar and stay at the UN guesthouse, whereas journos are forbidden from staying with the UN in Kabul. You will find the Taliban both pleasurable, exasperating and sometimes brutal, depending on circumstances.

DP called the embassy to get the latest travel stats. Apparently, Afghanistan is where all the journos were headed to earn their spurs. When asked who is going to Afghanistan, our contact replied, "Lots of journalists." The embassy needs $60, a couple of photos and a letter from your company saying why you want to be Afghanistan bound. If you enter from Peshawar, don't forget you need to arrange a double or multiple entry visa, a Khyber Pass permit and a gunman from the Khyber Tribal Agency office in Peshawar to get to Torkham. For some odd reason going back doesn't require this. You also need an exit visa (which can eat up half a day) if you leave from Kabul.

Pleasure tourists may find their visa request turned down unless they are truly persuasive. or bum a ride with an NGO car. The border crossings are as mercurial as they are dangerous. DP narrowly missed being caught up in a shootout at Torkham between slack-jawed Talib boy-guards and veddy British and veddy nervous Pakistani border guards. After the Talibs rocketed the top of the Pakistani post and shot through a demining vehicle, calm was restored and the Talibs went back to whipping urchins with their steel cables.

The Taliban-friendly U.S. embassy (locked in their usual time warp) told us that Massoud was getting support from "Russia and the Soviet Union" and when pressed for advice on how to stay safe, they came up with "Don't steal anything." Any other advice? "Well, you might have to grow a beard, or if you are a woman you might have to wear the chador, well no, now that I think of it, I guess Diane Sawyer didn't have to." We assume he meant the chador not the beard.

The London Afghan Embassy is run by Massoud's brother Wali. He can get you a journo visa for the north but can't do much about arranging a flight in. Tajikistan and Pakistan are your only safe bets for getting into the north. But just getting into and out of Tajikistan is its own nightmare (see the "Tajikistan" chapter).

All border crossings except Termez in Uzbekistan are technically open, but the embassy recommends that travelers use the crossings from Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan only. The best way into the north and the south is from Pakistan. The intrepid can stroll into Afghanistan over the many mountain trails that connect the two countries in the north and along the Khyber Pass. Since these are usually drug smuggling routes, all travelers will be suspect. A few years ago the DEA (via the Pakistani antidrug agency) was actually offering tribesmen a bounty on any gringos caught buying drugs, so shop for souvenirs with caution.

Afghans are quite hospitable and will offer food and whatever lodging they have. You are expected to reciprocate with some type of gift or remembrance. Photos of your family are great icebreakers and gifts like flashlights, medicine or even clothes are received well. Make sure you pick the right guide, one on good terms with the tribes who control the regions you will be passing through. You will probably be the only tourist in Afghanistan. Camels can be rented to carry heavy gear for US$10 dollars a day, and guides go for about US$20 a day, plus baksheesh (a tip). Travelers would be ill-advised to go gem hunting or arms collecting in the hills at this time due to the prevalence of land mines-still the number-one killer and maimer of humans and other living things-and the propensity of Afghans to kidnap foreigners for a few quick dollars.

Most of the country is in the hands of the Taliban, who also control the entry and movement of all outsiders.The northwest is in the hands of the Tajiks and the Wahkan corridor is a no-man's-land under any condition due to the mountainous terrain and drug smuggling. Those who want to meet the Taliban can also contact them in Pakistan.