Before coming to Afghanistan, I’d already met a lot of different people from many different cultures around the…
Times visited: 1 (2 days in 2016)
Cities visited: Sultan Eshkashim
Villages visited: Khirmani
During a journey through the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan, my friend Steve and I heard that it was possible to cross the border to a safe part of Afghanistan. It hadn’t even crossed my mind to visit the country before then as I – like so many others – believed the media and thought the entire country would be too dangerous to visit. But back before the 2021 Taliban takeover, there was an area that was completely safe for tourists to visit. That area is called the Wakhan Valley and is located in the far north by the border to Tajikistan.
Steve and I didn’t have much time as we still had a long way to travel for our flight out of Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, but we did find time to go to an Afghan border town for two days. It was surprisingly easy (although expensive) to get a visa, so we soon found ourselves walking over the border to an unknown world. Only a river separates the Tajik village of Ishkashim with the Afghan village of Sultan Eshkashim, but the cultures and way of life in the two villages could not be further apart. In Afghanistan, it was as though time stood still.
We were welcomed with open arms and offered to stay in a guesthouse by a kind local who also offered to guide us through our visit. For two days, we explored the town and the nearby village of Khirmani, talked to local men and children and bought as many souvenirs as we could carry. We never once felt unsafe. Our visit was short, but it gave us an insight into a world that most people don’t realize exist.
