Hi guys,

We are currently planning for a UK to Siberia trip in the 2013 summer and have found this site to be a wealth of useful information!

The plan is to travel from Turkey through Iran to the Stans but from reading books and hearing travel stories from the '70s I would love to cross in to Afganistan at some point. The best route would be to cross the Iranian border to Herat and then follow the "highway" to Mazari before crossing in to either Uzbekistan or Tajikistan. While there are accounts of people doing this route, the consensus on the Lonely Planet forum is that it is unsafe(!) as it travels through tribal areas. This leaves us with the option of going Iran-Herat-Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan-Mazari-Tajikistan.

Is there anyone on the forum who has traveled one of these routes or knows the area?

Cheers,

Ben

Afghanistan gets more coverage under the southern asia forum.
A bit like the country itself; doesn't quite clearly belong anywhere, being central asia to some, north to others and then in the south.

If you take a look at this thread, it is probably the last discussion on here about Afghanistan:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...hanistan-47438
Since that discussion, the security situation in the north of AFG has become less certain IMO.

To add.
There is no way of knowing what is going to occur there in the next few days/weeks, never mind in 2013.
Bear in mind that Australian troops are planning to be leaving there soon; can't remember when, but probably by 2013; as an Australian national, who do you think might pull you out of the mire, if it all goes very wrong?

I would forget the hippie trail romance of the 70s and take a reality check nearer when you think you might go for it.

to the HUBB - a very good resource.

__________________
Dave

No personal experience from there. But I did go Turkey-Iran-Pakistan-India some years ago. For me, Afghanistan seemed too dangerous at that time, and it does not appear, that a whole lot has changed since. We have a peacekeeping force of about 200 men working there, and there were reports of attacks against them using roadside bombs just a few days ago, not the first, and not the last time they have such incidents. Those guys are soldiers, so of course it is a bit different.

But there surely won´t be too many tourists around, so you´ll probably stick out everywhere like a sore thumb. And for me, the risk of kidnapping alone would be high enough, that it´s a reason to stay away. I would not want to leave my loved ones in a situation like that.

As almost always, there probably are some areas in the country, that are in fact much safer than others, so if you insist on going, then spend a lot of time trying to learn the real situation, and also following it closely, even more so, when the time of your trip gets closer, as situations change. I believe there have been a few posters at the HUBB, who have visited the country within the last 2-3 years (ok, I see the link to the thread is already here!)

I know people are willing to take different levels of risk.... and I´m sure it is a very interesting place, but for me, it still seems too risky. (Just my 0.02 of course.)

I would consider the Wakan region maybe but not anywhere else.