Browsing the Sunday Times I came across an astonishing article. Apparently two UK travel agents are offering sightseeing tours to Afghanistan. They plan future trips to "Axis of Evil" countries - Iran, Iraq, North Korea.
Can you imagine the tour bus. "And on your right there's the bombed-out anthrax factory and straight ahead is a land mine..."BOOM.
Last year I went to Kabul to see how our soldiers were faring in the former stronghold of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and Al Qaida. Not at the Bagram airfield nerve centre or in the mountains with the Marines, but in the capital with ISAF
(International Security and Assistance Force) troops.
Let me tell you Kabul is not a place to lie on a towel and soak up the rays. The Afghans are friendly but the ubiquitous AK47 is everywhere.
And this week a suspected Al Qaida man was arrested as he allegedly tried to blow up the US embassy with a car packed with bombs. He was caught by chance during a routine police investigation into a robbery.
Presumably these "adrenalin" tourists would have to get a visa, which costs £30 and requires a sponsor inside the country (at least it did a few weeks ago).
They would also need a host of jabs and potions (tetanus, polio, typhoid, possibly anti-malarials). Afghanistan is the third poorest country on the planet and there are enough diseases to keep a doctors' convention happy for a hundred years. Drinking water is unsafe.
Getting there in the first place would be a challenge. I'm not sure if there are civilian flights into Kabul but I doubt it. The border with Pakistan is open but it is a dangerous road.
We flew into Kabul's smashed-up airport in a military cargo plane which dived suddenly before landing to make itself a hard target in case anyone lobbed a missile our way. It was like riding a rollercoaster.
Kabul is split in two by a mountain and resembles Mos Eisley out of Star Wars. It is blazing hot in the day but bearable at night. It is an utter shambles after 23 years of non-stop fighting, first against the Russians and then a bitter civil war.
Everywhere you look there are shattered buildings riddled with shell and bullet holes. There are also lots of dusty graveyards with green flags fluttering in the breeze.
The elegant Royal Palace - which had been taken over by the Taliban - took a direct hit from a cruise missile and is a blackened shell. It is an awesome site - but you can't go in because of booby traps. And stay on the road because the ground is littered with antipersonnel mines which will take your foot off. The nearby former Russian embassy is a grim concrete affair filled with refugees.
Despite the devastation ordinary Afghans are carrying on with everyday life. I guess they can't do anything else. Everywhere I went they seemed happy foreign peacemaking troops were in their city. Admittedly I was accompanied by a squad of heavily armed soliders.
The markets are open and busy (the open -air butcher shops are terrifc adverts for vegetarianism) and there is chaotic traffic on the roads.
One urban legend is women who wear the burkha - a full length cloak with a woven grille for the face - are regularly knocked down as they cross the road because they have no peripheral vision. It is still rare to see a woman on the streets not wearing a burkha. Under the Taliban, it was illegal for women to show their faces in public.
Finding somewhere to stay shouldn't be a problem because there are several guests houses still in business (although I only saw the signs and didn't go in).
Chicken Street, Kabul's main shopping drag, is also open for business and its shopkeepers are eager for your dollars (the only reliable currency). Walk into any shop and you'll find an Aladdin's cave of curios and treasures. One shopkeeper offered a Lee Enfield rifle from the 19th century. It would probably fetch a fortune in the UK but can you imagine trying to get it back through customs! I did buy a handwoven rug for $40, after some hard bargaining.
You could also visit the city zoo, although it will break your heart to see the few mad-eyed animals being abused and stoned by hordes of children. The night life in Kabul isn't up to much either due to a 10pm to 4am curfew.
If you drive outside the capital you will also come across Northern Alliance soldiers - they swept into Kabul after the Taliban fled expecting the spoils of war. I was told they are disgruntled at sharing the city with foreign soldiers. They are none too careful about where they point their AK47s.
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I agree it should not be made into a tourist destination immediately, but soon I'm sure Afghanistan will be back on the tourist trail, for better or for worse. I'd love to go one day, but to learn about Afghani culture, not to look at war destruction and misery. An interesting review ;@p
bwanamdevu 24.10.2003 10:55
Mmmm....don`t think I`ll go then! Seriously, most people don`t realise whatbit feels like to be talking to ill educated people waiving sub-machines guns around as they speak to you! I had to travel through Chad many years ago, in the middle of their civil war. It was the only way to get from Niger to Cameroon after Nigeria had inconveniently closed their borders! Pretty hairy at times. After talking to a French Foreign Legion Colonel, we had our own personal escort of Legion Paratroopers. Great fun! Paul.
petitesquirt 22.09.2003 17:35
The people and country may be a beautiful place but I don't plan to visit Kabul in the near future ...
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