Border between Afghanistan & Turkmenistan: Torghundi - Serkhetabat

[wanderlust2]

Hi all,
I am planning to visit Afghanistan this summer. And IF all falls in place (there are currently a lot of very big "if"s), I'd like to enter Turkmenistan from Herat.

Does anyone know if the border between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan at Torghundi-Serhetabat border is open for travel ? Is there transport between Herat and Torghundi? From all recent accounts (2019), land travel is deemed unsafe between most cities in central and eastern part of the country. Is that true for this border as well?

[thijsbroekkamp]

I don't know it for certain but it looks unlikely to be open for travel. Turkmenistan is getting anxious with Afghan border, with recent confrontations and rising tensions. Even though they wise to remain neutral in conflicts they cannot longer ignore the issues and are in fact sending more military to the border. We couldn't go to far out of Herat city (september 2018) as the surroundings were deemed unsafe. So if the road from Turkmen border to Herat is a safe route to take is highly questionable.

[wanderlust2]

Thanks for the info. I know 2014 had seen an escalation of problems at this border but I could not find any current info. Did you do any travel by road or was it all by flight?

[thijsbroekkamp]

Thanks for the info. I know 2014 had seen an escalation of problems at this border but I could not find any current info. Did you do any travel by road or was it all by flight?

Sorry for late reply.
Something happened in january and in march Afghan soldiers were chased into Turkmenistan by Taliban
https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-capture ... 29530.html

We only traveled by flight to the different cities in the country. So we flew in on Kabul, and from Kabul to Herat and Mazar Sharif by plane. From Kabul and Mazar you can travel a bit inland by car to some interesting regions. I did go overland from Mazar e Sharif to Uzbekistan, which is deemed a safe border passage, did not have problems there.

[wanderlust2]

FYI:
I just left Afghanistan after almost 3 weeks there. This is info as of July 2019.
As far as land borders go,
- To the north, from Mazar to Termez is okay.
- To the west from Torghundi to Turkmenistan border okay if you are Afghan or Turkmen but most likely not for foreigners. But the road from Heart to Torghundi is no-go zone. I did not try; I hadn't been able to get a Turkmen visa in Kabul.
- To the east, across Khyber is no-go. Upto the pass from Pakistan is doable with police escort but on the Afghan side, this is hotbed for Taliban.