Current travel/safety conditions in Afghanistan

[Victorze]

Perhaps we can make a thread to share reports/ see if its possible for tourists to go to Afghanistan post Taliban takeover. If you’ve gotten this far to the 2nd sentence, you probably understand the danger of: Taliban, land mines, daesh, mob mentality, and that for some reason doesn’t want to stop you.

Sorry for the vagueness, but I hope to update soon. I have a white Canadian friend who entered Afghanistan from Pakistan (land) late January 2022. He negotiated somehow a visa to Afghanistan, from what I believe would be the Peshawar consulate, since I don’t think he had luck in the Islamabad one. He is backpacking around, telling me he’s seen the minaret of Jam, Zaranj… etc.

I want to go to Afghanistan next year (2023), so maybe we can queue all the resources about it here

[RD1993]

if you look in the Facebook group "Every Passport Stamp", a solo Swedish woman just did a ~10 day trip in Afghanistan. It required a stop in Pakistan to catch a daily Kam Air flight into Kabul. Don't want to start a convo on the ethics/etc. here, but I'm sure a handful more will make it over in the next few months now that she's proven for it to be reasonably safe and doable.

Not linking the post right now because not sure of the rules? But if it's OK I can link it...you need to be a member of the group to view the post.

[ccc]

A Canadian tourist, Francois Xavier Paradis Garneau, who visited 18 provinces of Afghanistan alone, says Afghanistan is a safe country now for foreign tourists.

After recent political changes, Canadian tourist Francois decided to travel to Afghanistan and so far he has visited 18 provinces of the war-torn country.

https://pajhwok.com/2022/03/01/afghanis ... n-tourist/

[ventureforthphoto]

Ibrahim (my Wahki Gide from 2018, see previous posts) says he has had a slight trickle of western tourists coming to the Afghan Wakhan, even one American scheduled. Tajik border remains closed so folks are coming via Kabul.

[ccc]

Exactly, only that way.

[ccc]

Foreign Tourist Arrested by the Taliban in Bamiyan Province.

https://8am.af/eng/foreign-tourist-arre ... -province/

[netllama]

Foreign Tourist Arrested by the Taliban in Bamiyan Province.

https://8am.af/eng/foreign-tourist-arre ... -province/

"guard of the foreign tourist, who was a Taliban member, opened fire in Dara-e Fuladi, near the center of Bamiyan". There's clearly way more to this story than that article shares. That article is 10 days ago, and I can't find any more information.

[h.ahmadybirgani]

Hi there,

I have recently got back home from the SILK Road trip. I have driven my 2*2 small car with my wife and two children from Iran via Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and again returned back to Tajikistan and then Afghanistan, and finally Iran.

For tourism, the border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan (Hairatan) is closed, and you have to go to Tajikistan via Sher Khan Bandar route and then Afghanistan.

We were in Afghanistan for 11 days. Everywhere was safe and secure and the people and Taliban were very friendly and behaved very well. But please keep in mind that solo female travelling is not a routine issue and you have to answer all Taliban checkpoint questions, who you are?, why you are visiting Afghanistan? Are you alone? and etc!!  They always asked me if that lady is your wife!!!!

Also, the roads are super awful and the Salang highway is now closed.

Any more questions, please feel free to contact me.

Cheers.

Hesam/

[D.Daniele]

Hi Hesam, thank you for sharing your experience. Just a quick question? What about the afghan visa? Did you got it in advance at the embassy or consulate in your home country?

[h.ahmadybirgani]

Dear Daniele,

Hope you are well.

I got my visa from the Afghanistan Embassy in Tehran and for my car I got my Roadpass permission from Mashhad Consulate in Iran. Because it is necessary to have Roadpass permission if you are going to drive into Afghanistan (Tourism visa $100 per person for single entry, because Afghanistan has no double entry unfortunately. And single entry Roadpass is $100 per car). For Roadpass permission I had double entry for $200.

To get back to Afghanistan, I got my Transit visa from the Afghanistan Embassy in Tashkent for a Transit Visa just for 3 days (duration of stay) for $50 per person. The Afghanistan Embassy in Dushanbe is not very friendly and quick to issue the visa due to the political issues. So I suggest getting it from Uzbekistan. Two or three days is enough to get your visa. but after too many calls i did, we could get our transit visa in two days.
Also, please note that you can not leave Afghanistan to Uzbekistan from Termez, as the road is closed for tourists. Just Sher Khan Bandar (Tajikistan) is open for tourists.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any inquiries.

Cheers.

Hesam/