Afghanistan Vehicle entry permit - WARNING
 

Last week Griffdog and I tried to enter Afghanistan at the Ishkashim border with the intention of riding/driving as far along the Wakan Valley as possible given that its still early in the season.

Having stamped out of Tajikistan and arrived at the Afghan border the first thing we were asked for was our vehicle entry permit which, it transpires is NOT available at the border. The permit, known as a RUPOS must be purchased at the Afghan consulate in Khorog. No amount of negotiating, waiting for the captain to arrive, the captain calling his boss or phoning the consulate to ask if we could fax documents would get us in.

After years of waiting to be on the right continent to visit the Wakan I can't tell you how dissapointed I was.

Eventually we left my bike and Griffdog's Landrover in the Tajik army barracks and took a taxi from the border to Eskashim (9km/U$20), spent the night in a homestay/guesthouse (U$25pp) then another taxi back to the border (U$20) stopping to register our departure (U$10pp) in the village on the way out.

Before being allowed to leave I had to attend a meeting with what I can only describe as the village Girga and explain why we were leaving after just one night and not visiting the Wakan.

At the border we were shown a RUPOS taken from an A4 folder full of them. Printed on it in English was the price of U$100. The border guard told us that another U$100 (U$160 for US citizens) was also payable at the border. So that's U$100 for a visa + U$200 for your vehicle + U$50 (I believe) for a Wakan tourist permit to be purchased in Eskashim. Prices that come as quite a shock after Uzbekistan and Tajikistan!

I hope this will prevent anyone else from experiencing the same.

This is by far the diluted version of events. I'll post the full story in my next blog update as will Griffdog.

thank you for this, please update about your Afghan adventure, as we are also on our way to there.... We're still 2 months out, but it's the first thing I've ever heard that you need to pay to enter with your vehicle... we're two on two bikes, so 600usd is not planned in our budget...

On the other side, can you please inform if it is doable (safe...) to go from there to Kunduz or even to Mazar-i-Sharif over the road so we can enter TJ or UZ from there? Can't find any info and the latest I had was from a few months ago from the embassy in Brussels, so far away from there to be reliable...

Safety
 

It is my understanding that ONLY the Wakan Valley is safe. The Taliban are now in Badakshan Province (same province as the Wakan) and there has recently been fighting in Faizabad. That's 150km by road from Eskashim or 12 hours on foot via the direct route (so we were told in Eskashim).


The RUPOS we were shown was for a car so its worth asking at the consulate what the price is for a motorcycle. Maybe its cheaper? Just ask before you shell out for a visa!

guessed it was in that wee finger bit of Afghanistan that gets in the way going from Taz to Pakistan but had to look it up on google maps. That's pretty far out man!:thumbup1:

Finally online in Bishkek.

It was indeed a disappointment as we will likely never return here again with our own vehicle. You can get your Visa's without LOI at the embassy in Khorog which is also where you can get your Rupos Document. Make sure you get it here. A Kiwi friend got his a day after I text him and it cost him $200.

Gutted. Onwards and upwards to Siberia!

G

Attached pic of the 'Rupos' (Rubos?) along with one of the Hindu Kush for your enjoyment.

Thx for the info. In the meantime I got confirmation from my afghan connection that it is indeed necessary if you want to travel on your own vehicle, he also said it was 100usd per vehicle but he doesn't know about motorcycles, so we will indeed ask before applying/paying everything... ;-)
Would be a bummer not to do it, but then it's not exactly cheap for just a few days riding...

Short update: not only does the Rupos cost $200 from the consulate but you also need to pay an additional $100 custom duty fee at the border. This has been confirmed.

Below is a copy of Jon's Rupos which may make translation easier for UK based vehicles.

G

Djeeee... they don't want anybody coming in or what???
I am seriously reconsidering this... not willing to pay 600€ for just a week with our two bikes in the Wakhan...

Damn unlucky!!

a few of these Polish guys did this a couple of years ago, looks AMAZING!! Afghanistan ride. How to enter, survive and return in one piece... - Page 18 - ADVrider

By the way, I have been researching a lot to see if I can find a route through Afghanistan from Tajikistan to Pakistan, everywhere I have looked they have said there is no way you can get through to Pakistan, however I have heard some news about a road being built from Dushanbe to Pakistan. Does anyone know any further information???

I intend to go this route in 2017 mid-way through a world trip, hopefully there is a way through by then!!! If you guys have any more information about this pass please let me know :)

The roads are in place, now
 

Try the southern Asia forum:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/southern-asia/
even though Afghanistan lies in central Asia. :innocent:


:welcome: to the HUBB by the way.

You can bribe them on the border.
I never paid more than 100 USD per bike. If I paid in consulate for Road Pass I refused to pay on the border. It is faster to bribe them than wait for Road Pass.

There was no bribing going on. Absolutely no way. We tried everything (and would have paid a bribe) but they weren't having any of it. We spent the whole afternoon there and believe me, if bribery had been an option it would have come up in conversation; but it didn't. I think our "Isn't there anything we can do" pleading would have led to a bribe being suggested were it an option but it wasn't.
The U$100 payable at the border may well have been a bribe but without the permit from Khorog there was no way we were going to be allowed in.

Maybe times have changed since your last visit.

This is still really bad news, this means that you pay 300USD just to enter the country with the bike, + 80USD for the Visa + 50USD for the Wakhan permit for just a week driving in the Wakhan... That's way to expensive!

I've never bribed anywhere in the world, but for this I would just to reduce costs, but if you're saying it's impossible... I'm not sure if I can or am willing to pay that mush money just to see the Wakhan on a bike... :confused1:

It's a Route Pass!

I was refused one in Islamabad in 2009, so just went ahead without. I made it into the country at three separate borders without one. I guess the guys at Ishkashim are strict because they see quite a few foreign vehicles. At least it seems you can get one. $100 is not much in the scheme of things, when you look back at it.

Daniel

View like this .. in this time and moment!
 

I will gladly pay 1000 usd.
That is same as 2 hours in a titty bar. Steak and lobster for 4 at the Palm in NYC,, din din for two at Maxims in Paris,,, 50 masssages in Bangkok,, getting kicked off Easy Jet !
Or get run over by a Paki trucker.

Only once in a life time or two,,,,

That is all very well but we could do nothing on the border. It was no longer a question of money. We couldn't get in because we didn't have it and you can only get a double entry for Tajikistan therefore effectively stuck.

The post was put up to ensure anyone going through the Ishkashim border was aware of the situation this season. It was our experience at the time and I'm sure this will change again next year.

If you want to drop $1000 for shit you posted above then that is fine, I would rather spend it elsewhere!

G

more info
 

hi! im driving a jeep from spain, now in dushanbe and planning on crossing on other borther than iskashim since i already pass that area, ill go on wednesday to the embassy in dushanbe and ask for the right info, if i understood correctly, you have to pay 200 on the embassy and 100 at the border? sorry if you are tired of talking about this... also, im trying to go to iran from afganistan, did you have any recent info on the situation in the country?

thanks!

Our experience was with the consulate in Khorog. I heard it was 200 USD at the consulate and a further 100 USD on entry. Do you have a double entry for Tajikistan incase things go wrong? You may need to re enter.

Check your countries status with Afghanistan. French nationals would get immediately extracted on entry, I guess they are sick of paying for and denying ransom fees to AQIM, haha.

Let us know how you get on.

G

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How so? (Je ne comprende pas).

Moi non plus.
But it is interesting that the french consular service explicitly names the Wakhan in its travel warnings.

"Notable incidents in recent months
The increase in incidents involving terrorists infiltrated using police uniforms or military, false diplomatic plates and fake cards of the police;
suicide attacks involving an increasing number of suicide bombers covering both Western targets qu'afghanes (institutions, police, army);
the seasonal increase in attacks (IEDs, or IED English) explosives;
increased risk of kidnappings of Westerners, both in Kabul and in the provinces.
Recommendations
These events are a reminder that the security situation in the country does not improve, especially for foreigners.

Under these conditions, all tourism trip to Afghanistan is prohibited."

We were speaking to a Latvian who was there a few weeks prior to us, he only went in for a week but made good friends with a high ranking official on the border. He told him the news. The Afghan border guards will give passport numbers straight to the French Embassy, who will come get you... apparently.

G

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Hmmm, so it is not just the UK FCO that publishes all kinds of views about security situations in far flung corners of the world.
But, whereas the UK goverment "advises", the French government "prohibits".

Unless the Afghan border guards are prepared to apprehend said French nationals I can't see the embassy staff, miles away and safely ensconced behind the high walls in Kabul, doing anything effective, or timely, toward removing their own nationals from Afghan territory.

Maybe, but I heard itvwas a case of a heli extraction with the cost going to said tourists... thats what I heard. When your paying out 20 mil to free your people in West Africa you kind of want to limit that, especially when people know the French will pay up.

Depending on security I plan to cycle the valley in the next few years aftervour vehicle experience.

G

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That is really strange, I cannot believe, that French citizens are really regularly extracted before entering nogo-areas, there must at least be a notice of that in their travel advices. The French would not have any legitimacy to prevent their citizens traveling abroad (if the country is not under French Sovereignty).
It would be much simpler to enforce the no-visa policy at the remaining consulates (Bishkek, Khorog), that still give hazzle-free visas to tourists.
But I heard from a traveller, that he was astonished to meet American officials, when going back to Uzbekistan (he went over the same border to get in). They took his personal data, so he is now on a list of people, that have visited Afghanistan.

Its just what I heard Chris, I was just putting the info out for the Spaniard concerned. Forewarned is forearmed.

I actually got my source wrong (speaking to my girlfriend) It was a French couple who we travelled with extensively in Mongolia. They asked the embassy in Dushanbe and that is what they were told. I have no reason to doubt them, but maybe the embassy was trying to put them off... either way, not being French myself I do not know. Take from it what you will.

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Thank you for the clarification Griff.
BTW here are pictures of a bike trip this year to Sarhad.
But having been 3 times in the Tajik Pamir, I would rather recommend to do the touring there, the options are far greater (not only standard Pamir Hwy or the so called Tajik Wakhan), landscape being not less spectacular, and you have no dead end road like to Sarhad. But why not both?

Cheers

Christian

I had this kind of image in mind, strangely - a sort of enormous "skyhook" that swoops down and lifts all French nationals up, up and away; perhaps with a big sign - something like "Francois Hollande says non non".
Or maybe this concept is based on the mountain rescue services that charge a person who gets into difficulty and has to be removed from some difficult-to-access location.

Now that I can believe.


............... that makes a lot of sense.