Kabul was cool and a place that I had wanted to visited for years and years!
I was really worried for a while about going to Afghanistan and rightly so. Kabul has always been one of the most dangerous cities in the world. It was the most worried I had ever been pre-departure for any trip that I had ever done anywhere in the world. I’d been trying to get to Afghanistan for a good few years and had a couple of previous failed attempts.
Failed attempt 1 (2017)—The valley in Tajikistan—There was a weekend market trip taking place back then and a bus leaving from Dushanbe to the Tajik/Afghan border, and I was strongly thinking about going back then. It’s possible to cross to the Afghan side, buy your products, spend a bit and time and then come back to the Tajik side. I decided against it at the last minute, mostly because of safety concerns.
Failed attempt 2(2019) – I had Pakistan and Afghanistan planned on the same trip, but some last-minute changes occurred, which was a bit frustrating at the time, just before Covid hit, further slowing down the whole process.
Failed attempt 3 (2022)- I was supposed to take a trip from Islamabad in Pakistan to Torkham in Pakistan, and then cross the border to Afghanistan. At that time,I was living in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government reintroduced the COVID-19 restrictions at the last minute, meaning I would have needed to go somewhere else to quarantine for 2 weeks before going back to Saudi Arabia, so I had to cancel againwhich was frustrating at the time, Islamabad isn’t too far away from the Afghan border, less than a 4-hour drive.
So, it was time to plan the next attempt, this time attempting to link it up with Turkmenistan, a neighboring country and luckily everything went according to plan this time.
I finished the Turkmenistan tour, landed early back in Dubai, and went straight to the Afghan embassy early in the morning. I initially met several helpful people who directed me to the correct office and then the process began with interview after interview. It involved signing several documents, getting some passport photos printed, and scheduling a meeting with a couple of different people, mostly wondering why I going there and the dangers that could occur, along with numerous other things, like payment, flight arrangements and hotel accommodation in a secure location in Kabul.
Later that day, my visa got approved, the whole process took about 6 hours since the time of arrival at the embassy and I booked my flight for the next day to Kabul, leaving from Dubai.
The airport is Kabul is still undergoing maintenance after the 2021 Kabul Airport bombing, so parts of the airport looked quite bleak and desolate. I arrived at the passport control and this was my first interaction with the Taliban and it went smoothly. They just asked a couple of questions and then gave me a pullout paper that included a passport picture and I needed to have this at all times, just in case we got stopped at a later time, then the police would know that I’m a tourist with the approved visa. The document was only sufficient for tourism within Kabul, in order to leave Kabul, I would have needed to apply for a different approved document and then wait for an extended period of time.
I stayed at the Kyber Hotel, a nice hotel in downtown Kabul, a popular hotel for tourists,and arranged everything in advance. The hotel is safe and there are a couple of really nice restaurants nearby, along with some convenient stores and coffee shops and the breakfast at the hotel was amazing with a variety of options.
I arranged a tour around Kabul from the receptionist at the hotel who spoke really good English. We would go out and explore the entire city the following day because it was getting dark on day #1.
The following day we began at Kabul Zoo, located in one of the quieter parts of Kabul and we had most of the zoo to ourselves which was a treat.
We proceeded to the main city center, this area had all of the markets, all the hustle and bustle, and even a popular bird market.
We then went to Babur Garden and walked around for a while, before stopping for some traditional food at a local restaurant and a couple of coffee stops along the way.
Then we continued to drive around some more, taking in some of the views of the nearby mountains, before going back to the hotel and getting dinner.
The next day I flew back to Dubai, with every country in Asia (all 48) officially wrapped up everything.
I’m not sure of I’d recommend the trip to anyone else. it’s kind of hit and miss and one of the reasons why I decided to leave Afghanistan until the very end. The security situation is very tense and there are a lot of problems since the Taliban took over again in 2021, and they had enforced a lot of new rules, especially when it comes to women. The city isn’t safe and attacks are frequent.
