I have done it twice before… travelling south over the sinuous road artery that connects the north and the south of Afghanistan. In both cases, these road missions have bordered on the surreal and tested the concept of ‘edgy’… This time I was heading north, travelling from Kabul over the Salang Pass to Taloqan – the provincial capital town (not really a city) of the Takhar Province.
On this occasion, I was travelling with two ‘international’ colleagues who are more seasoned road mission veterans. It did cross my mind that there probably was a good reason why they offered that I should sit upfront alongside the ‘pilot’. Essentially, the drill is to hit the road as soon after daybreak and as soon as the risk management clearance is given. It is required that the trip is undertaken in two vehicles for safety and security reasons. The vehicles are required to be ‘low profile’ to minimize risks of attracting undue attention en-route – especially through the ‘tricky’ piece of road from Pul – e – Khumri through Baghlan and past Kunduz on to Taloqan. We had been ‘issued’ with two secondhand Corollas - taxis with uncertain pedigrees - and the two associated young taxi drivers who looked all set for a brisk drive…
All aboard in the early morning light in Taimani - with three of us and our ‘man at the helm’ in the lead car and the second driver in the follow-up car accompanied by our team leader’s office chair which had been crammed into the back of the hapless Corolla – and we set off against the flow of the beginnings of the Kabul rush hour.
The road leaves Kabul towards the West and then loops back towards the North-east past the infamous Bagram airbase and through the busy market town of Charikar. The road was clear. The air was cool and clean. Our driver set a really brisk pace as he weaved past the odd vehicle in our path. The mood in the car was optimistic and chatty among us ‘internationals’ as we caught up on news of each others’ recent activities. The first clue of what was in store for us came in the main street of Charikar when a tri-cycle rickshaw turned blindly in front of our car and our driver reacted with lightning reflexes to take avoiding action before threatening to stop and deal with the offending rickshaw driver. We commended him on his deft driving skills and were able to persuade him that engaging with the poor rickshaw driver would only delay us…
The next clue in the saga took the form of masses of trucks parked on the side of the road as we approached the small town of Jabalussaraj before entering the deep valleys which form the ‘entry’ to the Salang Pass.
The approach to the pass passes through a picturesque landscape with small villages perched on rocky outcrops. Soon the road winds up into the snow and one is reminded that snow chains are a pre-requisite for traction on the upper reaches of the pass.
One of the first galleries of the pass…
Some of the oncoming traffic… and the grader equipped with snow chains.
So far so good… the traffic seems very light and we are making good progress…
Into the Salang Tunnel the going is really good… suspiciously so. The last clue…
We emerge on the northern side of the tunnel into the eerie late morning light at high altitude… and I get an over-the-shoulder shot of the entrance portal with the pylons which march over the top of the mountain chain to support the 220 kV high-voltage line which feeds hydropower electricity into Kabul from Uzbekistan.
And we start the descent down towards Khinjan with competition for road space starting to hot up… you’ve got to love the wheelbarrows on the bus and the asymmetrical headlamp arrangement on the light truck.
Spot the gap for any on-coming traffic… and a good shot of the back of a typical Pakistani-style, decorated semi-trailer truck complete with paint-job, dangling chains, bells, mud-flaps and black cloths waving in the sidewash of the wind of the passing cars.
The Corolla in front of us hits the brakes as a chancer takes the gap on the left…
Breakfast and a comfort break at a roadside restaurant also provides our drivers the opportunity of having their Corollas washed while we eat. Always good to be seen driving in a clean Corolla.
And back into the fray… with the road suddenly much more busy. Trucks on both sides of the road and the cars playing chicken to exploit the space between the lumbering trucks. The Lexus hits the brakes after taking the gap and then having the opening close up at the last moment… our driver hot on the heels.
Soon it becomes apparent that we’ve been rushing headlong into a 40 km long traffic jam of trucks, coaches and semi-trailers lined two deep along the road in a massive gridlock. The whole gridlock behaves in an organic manner as the cars jostle and weave and manoevre between the idling trucks. At one point our driver resorts to extricating the Corolla from a dead-end in the heaving morass by executing a seven-point turn to leave the road and head up a track and bounce us through a small village and a rock-strewn river bed to rejoin the fray approximately 1 km further along the snaking queue. Whiling away the time, we make a rough estimate of the value of the trucks and cargo (mostly diesel fuel) and end up with numbers which are probably conservative at around US$100 million…
While stuck in the traffic, one of my colleagues is able to enjoy a smoke on the side of the road and I get an opportunity to study some of the paint jobs on the trucks.
After approximately two hours of cut-and-thrust we emerge across a small bridge onto a section of road which, unbelieveably, is open for traffic travelling north. Our driver responds by pushing on with renewed vigour (and speed). Once we a well clear of the mayhem between the Salang Pass and Doshi our driver makes a much-needed fuel stop at filling station which boasts a Pakistani style building alongside the forecourt. Colleague, Michael makes a dash for the ‘squat-type’ toilets at the back of the site. Note the petrol-powered fuel pumps.
The last real challenge on the drive is negotiating the chaotic traffic, atrocious roads and dust of the main street through Pule-e-Khumri, the provincial capital town of Baghlan Province.
We emerge from Pul-e-Khumri and pass through Baghlan before the landscape opens up and flattens out for the final stretch up to Kunduz and on to Taloqan. It is past 5 o’clock in the afternoon and we’ve been at it for ten and a half hours. We’ve covered approximately 400 km…
At last we enter Taloqan…
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