Reports: Hairatan-Termez border crossing (UZB - Afgh)

[steven]

Please read and post reports on the Hairatan border crossing between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan below.

We summarize all info on the Afghanistan border crossings and Uzbekistan border crossings pages.

[exploreout]

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/ ... t/22493434

Is the Hairatan border (from Termez) now inaccessible without special registration, papers?

[steven]

As lostwithpurpose explains, you can cross if you have an Afghan visa. If you want to see the Buddhist monastery near the border, you need a special permit.

Got an issue with links to LP, here it is again

lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/asia-central-asia/uzbekistan/afghanistan-trip-uzbek-visa-issue?page=1#post_22493434

[Harrisgf]

USA passports, male and female

Termez to Hairatan
We got in a taxi in Termez at 7am. It cost us 40,000 som to get from our hotel to the border. We arrived at the border around 7:15am and were shown to a shuttle bus. They put us on the shuttle bus but took our passports. We waited on the bus for a bit until our passports came back and we were off to the border. The driver expected 5,000 som per person and wouldn't let us off until we paid. We'd heard reports that this bus was free but didn't seem to be the case for us. We went through extensive bag checks where they searched every pocket and went through pictures in our phones. My friend's phone had tons of pics and the officer got bored after a while and stopped searching. There was also a quite invasive body pat down. Finally we were sent to a man to get our passport stamps and we began the long walk across the bridge. On the Hairatan side, we were shown into a building were some officers were very excited to process us. We had a lengthy documenting, fingerprinting, and pictures but the bag search wasn't as thorough. The process was slightly different for me (female) and my friend (male). I got the impression that the female officer didn't get to do this too often so she was a bit more eager. We made it through both sides and out to the taxi stand by 9am Uzbek time. Although the process was lengthy, everyone was extremely friendly and there weren't many other people there so at least we weren't queuing much.

Hairatan to Termez
We arrived at the border at 2:15pm. We were shown back into the same building we went through on the way into Afghanistan. The guards remembered us and were just as friendly on our way out. We did the fingerprinting and pictures again but it was a bit quicker since this time we weren't the first ones being processed that day and they already had their computer turned on. They did another half hearted bag search and then we began the walk across. On the Uzbek side, we were stopped by a lady for some paperwork right after the bridge. Then stopped again for a lengthy chat with the guards about our travels (I think they just wanted to practice English) while another guard went into a room and did something with our passports. Finally they let us go and we walked to the next building where we went through immigration and customs. They checked our customs forms thoroughly and then did yet another bag check. They also went through the pictures in our phones and cameras again and would ask for explanations on what the pictures were. Finally, we were done and walked to the gate where the shuttle bus immediately came and gave us a lift back to the taxi stand (5,000 som each).

In bag searches, they were mostly looking for medications, pornography, etc. They asked about books we were carrying. In our phones, the Uzbek side seemed mostly interested in if we had photos of Uzbekistan. Pictures of guards, etc would probably get deleted.

[joaoportland]

Hello and thank you for the information.
I really want to take a look on the Afghan side when visiting the region.Please, let me ask you a few questions.
How was the experience on the Afghan side? How long did you guys stayed (just for one day)? Just Hairatan? Was it worthy?
What about safety in general, still possible to spend a day or so?
Sorry for the several questions.
Thank you,

[chax]

UK Passport, Oct / '17

Termiz to Hairatan
Termiz - Can't remember how much I paid but 40k som as stated is reasonable
Had to wait a bit before we were authorised to go to the shuttle bus
shuttle bus costs 5k som as stated
Luckily at the time that I crossed, there was nobody else crossing. Process was pretty quick compared to what I had previously read. Bag check was not very extensive, they looked through some stuff on my phone but also not extensive.

Hairatan - Like stated, Afghan officers and guards were very friendly and excited to meet travellers. Process was quite fast and they even got us a taxi into Mazar-I-Sharif
Total 1.5hr probably

Hairatan to Termiz

Hairatan - very fast again. Nobody waiting, process was even faster than the way in.

Termiz - unfortunately there were 2-3 families in waiting by the time i got there. You get directed to a different building on the opposite side lengthy wait of >1 hour to be seen. Bag search was very extensive, they opened pretty much every single thing and asked plenty of questions. A little rude this time, urging me to hurry up packing although they left all my stuff in an absolute mess. They asked me about most of the items in my bag (and every single medication i had) and fairly extensively about my time in Afghanistan. Then i was directed to the room for looking through my phone. Very extensive this time and definitely a large invasion of privacy. He looked through a lot of my different conversations in different apps, then looked through the photos, in my view often deliberately opening photos/group photos that included females. Scrolled through heaps of my old conversations and then fairly extensively through my photos and videos. Not very tech savvy otherwise. Ended up straight up asking if i had porno, drugs, or terrorist books/friends? Total >3 hours.

[dashtnavard]

Hi, can anyone please confirm if Hairatan border crossing between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan operational during Eid public holidays?

[thijsbroekkamp]

Crossed this border from Afghanistan to uzbekistan two weeks ago and was not as bad as I expected. Afghan side quick and easy, Uzbek side took some longer as they are checking your bags. Unpacked some items from my bag, They flipped through a few photos on one of my dslr camera’s and did not check my phone and that was it. I recommend taking a shared taxi at Hairatan, they take you all the way to Termez and then you go through the checks together with most likely some friendly Afghans that help you through the process. Costed me 30 usd, down from 50, probably still too much but I just wanted to go across as soon as possible.

[jwong]

crossed Termez - Hairatan - Termez back in Feb and experience mirrors previous travellers. No issues going from Uzbekistan -> Afghanistan and was fairly quick, with the whole crossing taking a little over 1h as there were quite a few people and the Uzbek side was much slower in processing people. No lengthy questions or searches. Afghanistan -> Uzbekistan was where the real fun was, lots of questions from the Uzbeks and literal inspection of every single item in my bag including going through my phone and my computer. Officer was slightly apologetic and said he was just doing his job but he was very slow. Took 2h 40m to cross from Hairatan to Termez and there were about 5 people ahead. The Uzbeks seemed to be very concerned about narcotics/banned medications coming in from Afghanistan and they were indiscriminately checking everyone but it seems like a waste of everyone's time, especially screening backpackers/travellers on "western" passports but I digress. Also, the Uzbeks were genuinely very curious as to why anyone "foreign" would want to visit Afghanistan

[jack555]

Hi there,

I'm flying to Tashkent next week. I want to know whats the best way to get to Hairatan? I was wondering if the Termiz-Hairatan border is open without any problems? and how long would it take to to get a Afghan visa if I applied in Uzbekistan?