Tea, Hashish, and an Arabic License Plate

Leaving Afghanistan.
Photo: Hans Sandberg, 1974.

2014

I’m searching for the name of the border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan. I remember that our buses rolled into a dusty customs station and parked at some distance from the administrative building. I don’t think there were any other vehicles there. After googling for a while, I find Torkham, which in 2014 looks like a very different place than when we arrived in 1974. The once sleepy customs station is now full of armed soldiers. Google shows images of long queues of trucks and cars, as well as many people waiting. No camels or goats, but burning or burnt-out trucks, explosions, dead soldiers. I also find news reports of wars and attacks, most recently  a Taliban attack on a NATO convoy near Torkham, which occurred on June 19, 2014. It destroyed 37 trucks carrying fuel and supplies.

We arrived late in the afternoon on October 4, 2014, and were told that we could not continue the same day. We had to wait until the morning since it was too dangerous to cross the Khyber Pass at night. There were bandits and robbers, and one of the villages along the way was called the "Den of Thieves".

Elisabeth and I were dead tired and fell asleep early in our bus. When we woke up the next morning, we were told by the others that the customs chief had invited everybody to a party in the customs building where they danced and were served hashish and tea. 

The next morning, one guy traveling with the other bus was caught while trying to steal an Arabic script license plate from a wreck behind the customs house. We were told that he normally should go to jail in Kabul, but the customs officer was a friendly man and let us move on once every one of us had apologized for our fellow traveler's behavior.

"I see that you are nice people and will let it pass, but be careful in the future," the customs officer said.

We all shook hands with him and two other officials. Then they walked us out and waved us off.

Later that day we begin the descent along a road that twists and turns through hairpin bends and tunnels. Behind us we see the silhouettes of the mighty mountains in the moonlight. The landscape is becoming more and more green. We are approaching Pakistan and are met by cultivated fields and long stretches where the road is lined with trees.

In Pakistan we are met by water and a green landscape. 

Photo: Hans Sandberg, 1974.

Footnote: There are about 40 languages in Afghanistan, with Dari and Pashto as the most common. Both are written in Arabic script.

(Translated from my October 4, 2014 post on Sandbergs hörna)