Trip to Central Asia via Afghanistan
 

Planning a trip to Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries/CIS on my 2007 XR650l coming spring, ie March 2023.

Planned route is Pakistan-Afghanistan-Uzbekistan-Kirghizistan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan. This should be under 4000kms.

Need confirmation if these states need a CDP?

Guidance and suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi Omie

None of those countries (apart from your home country) recognise the CdP, so you do not need one.

Afghanistan requires a 'Route Pass', try asking the consulate in Peshawar to see if you can get one. I had no success in Islamabad or Peshawar, but drove in without one.

I knew a guy who got one in Peshawar in 2007, but he had some local assistance (I don't remember the details). A few people also got them from either Dushanbe or Khorog. I tried in Tashkent and was not successful.

Either way, I entered Afghanistan three times with my car at separate borders (Torkham, Heyratan and Torghundi) without one. This was in late 2009.

One other thing would be to get some local advice in Peshawar from people who are driving to Kabul. Southern Afghanistan now seems quite safe, but there have been attacks in the east around Jalalabad.

Please keep us up to date with your trip... best of luck to you!

EO

Thanks for the reply. I am in touch with friends who have business and decent sized establishment in Kabul and commute regularly.
They inform that law and order situation is much better than during US presence. The extortionist warlords are nowhere and travellers are safe.

I am 63 and shall do it solo. My last trip to Afghanistan was in 1977 when it was a totally different world. You might find my travelogue interesting,

Frank Views: Afghanistan I saw in 1977 (First part)

Thanks for the good wishes. Shall keep you posted.

Cheers.

Thanks for posting your blog Omie, I am off to the Indian subcontinent for the first time since 2018 on Monday although I am starting in Kathmandu rather than Pakistan this time but it has whetted my appetite and hope one day to visit Afghanistan, it is looking more likely now and good luck with your trip.

Hi Omie

Thank you for the link to your writing, I really enjoyed reading Part 1. Many of my most cherished memories are of Pakistan and it's nice to read some familiar place names. I must concede a little envy from my side at you having seen Afghanistan (well, the world) in the 1970s, though the picture you paint (using Pak rupees in Jalalabad, a slightly more liberal and cosmopolitain air compared to NWFP, the river in Kabul like a sewer all stick in my memory) is very much what I experienced in 2009. How amazing to go now, decades later and fulfil your dream by doing it on a motorcycle.

"It is interesting to note how nature and experiences make us and how we overrate ourselves as deciding for ourselves."

This rang true for me, I remember seeing a couple with a Landcruiser in the Madina Guesthouse in Gilgit in 2003 and thinking what an incredible way to travel tht would be.

A bit more back on topic, I have come across two recent accounts of travel in Afghanistan.

One is from a personal friend who has been running tours in the country for many years, who recently completed his first trip since the exit of American occupiers. He made a round trip from Kabul to the Minaret of Jam, then Herat Farah, Lashkar Gah, Kandahar, Ghazni, Kabul. He reported no issues, though predictably there were some Taliban officials who were nonplussed and perhaps suspicious of western tourists.

The other was on the HUBB Facebook page, and was from a western motorcyclist who reported a bit of hostility, though the account came across as being rather naive.

Western media would most likely not be able to report that peace and law-and-order have improved since the Americans departed but, certainly in the south of the country, that seems to be the case. I am very much hoping to visit Afghanistan again in the not-too-distant future and look forward to hearing about your trip.

Best wishes,

EO