“Why are you in this western tour group? Why are you with them?”

I faced this question at almost every checkpoint during the few days I travelled in Afghanistan as part of a group. A Taliban soldier on the 5th day was more explicit. “This is your country! You don’t need to be with them to see Afghanistan.”

– – –

This travel guide to Afghanistan is specifically meant for Indians. Like Indians in colour and passport. It does not, and cannot, apply to people of other colours and nations or an Indian with a western passport. 🙂

Let me put it in context first.

According to Indian textbooks, Afghanistan was once a part of India. According to Afghan textbooks, India was once a part of Afghanistan. Sorry, not India, but ‘Hindustan.’ Afghans, like the rest in Central Asia, still refer to India by its Silk Road-era name given to the sub-continent by the Persians.

Afghan fine-dining restaurant menus have Hyderabadi Biryani and Aloo Gobi listed under ‘Afghan Dishes,’ while Afghan women wear nose rings and bindis and are adamant it is an Afghan thing. We Indians, of course, believe it is all intrinsically ours, and just smile about it in smug complacency. You get the drift.

Both countries have shared personalities and dynasties across a millennium. For one thousand years it was the likes of Mahmud of Ghazni, Muhammad Ghori, the Khilji Dynasty, Lodi Dynasty, Mughal Emperor Babur, and Sher Shah Sur. Today, it is a chunk of Bollywood. Yes, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Celina Jaitley, yesteryear heroes Feroz Khan and Sanjay Khan, and bad guy Kader Khan all have Afghan blood in them. And these are just a few in a long list.

India is the best friend that has steadfastly stood by Afghanistan, building roads and dams, and providing humanitarian aid when the international community placed sanctions and froze Afghanistan’s bank accounts. It is also one of the few countries that has continued to have an embassy in Kabul post-August 2021, manned by a technical unit for aid. Afghanistan has never forgotten that.

For both countries cricket is sacred, and surpasses the everyday trials and tribulations of life. The fact that Rashid Khan [who was bought by Gujarat Titans for 1.8 million USD in 2023], along with 4 others are IPL players as well, makes the bond just stronger.

And how can one forget Kabuliwala, the short story written by Nobel Prize Laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1892 which has formed an integral part of Indian school syllabus and time and again been translated into Indian cinema. The most recent being Suman Ghosh’s Mithun Chakraborty starrer.

Afghanistan’s equation with India is distinct from its equation with other countries. Especially western countries. Forty years of war, first against the Soviet, and then the US and NATO, has only fortified this difference.

In a nutshell, Afghanistan is one country where my Indian passport was treated like a priority passport. Swift access through provincial borders, airport staff who waved cheerfully at me, and the young lady at Kabul airport security telling me she wanted to be like Kareena Kapoor when she grew up. The last bit I could not figure, but it is something we can put aside for the purpose of this post.

So, dear reader, this is a travel guide for Afghanistan for the Indian traveller. Visas, insurance, Internet, language, etc. Because for the Indian, things are, well, different here. No dark tourism whatsoever, but a foray into common cultural and historical tapestries! Wishing you happy travels. Always. 🙂

[Please note there are NO affiliate links in this post, or in any of my posts. Links are provided only to help you with your plans or for you to get extra info. Neither is any of the content in this post or any other post sponsored. The services mentioned in this post are what I used and I am simply sharing them with you.]

1. Getting to Kabul

Kam Air, Afghanistan’s only privately-owned airline, runs a direct 2-hour flight on Wednesdays from Delhi to Kabul and back. Nijam Ali [cell no.: +91 87 5024 4380], at the sales office in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, is super-efficient and helpful. This flight can only be booked directly with the sales office or on the airline website, and not through any aggregator portals. By the way, Lajpat Nagar is also called ‘Little Kabul’ for its sizable Afghan community.

Please do not believe the negative online coverage about the airline. I did multiple flights with Kam Air, and they were all fab. Extremely professional air hostesses, cabin crew, and pilots.

The best time to visit Afghanistan is March and October. Summers are too hot and winters too cold, so plan your travels keeping that in mind.

2. Getting into Kabul

There is no visa fee for Indians. However, if you have been following the Indian news, you would know that the Afghanistan embassy in Delhi closed operations on 24 November 2023.

Afghanistan’s embassies, including the one in Delhi, are run by its previous NATO- backed government which is now technically defunct. The Taliban government plans on replacing these with its own representatives.

Till this happens you can get your Afghanistan tourist visa in a handful of cities including Dubai, which is where I got mine. Though the visa fee is nil, the travel agent [Rafik, a Keralite based in Dubai, cell no. +971 50 211 2502] charges 250 USD as service fee.

This includes same day collection and drop of your passport, and filling the visa forms. You will need to provide a soft copy of your local tour operator’s details and 2 passport photos. I suggest you first check if the embassy in Delhi has opened and started issuing tourist visas or not. Only if not, then try the more expensive Dubai route.

3. Staying safe

I found Afghanistan to be incredibly safe. But one never knows in today’s global political climate as to when a calamity may strike. A few Indian insurance companies do cover Afghanistan, including the possibility of hijack. I used Tata AIG Insurance for my travel insurance after confirming with them on a chat that coverage was guaranteed. The premium was nominal.

4. Staying connected

All Indian SIM cards provide international roaming in Afghanistan, whether your contract is prepaid or postpaid. I use Airtel, and it worked like a dream except when I was in the midst of some desolate expanse in the Hindu Kush Mountains or in the deep barren canyons of Ghor province. I do not think I even once used the hotels’ Wi-Fi networks.

5. Staying there, but where

Do not expect five-star hotels or service. This is a country which is finding its feet after four decades of war. There is peace today, but there is also widespread poverty.

Whilst the bigger cities such as Bamyan, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, and Mazar-e Sharif have decent mid-sized hotels, the lodgings in small towns like Chisht and Ghor have warm blankets at their best. There are no ensuite bathrooms in these small town ones, with the facilities being down the corridor, at times without showers, and at others without washbasins, and you might have to ask for clean bedsheets. I have included details of the hotels I stayed in under the relevant posts.

Oh, and yes, squat bathrooms are the norm. Western bathrooms are only available in the bigger cities, and that too on special request.

6. Conversing with locals

Most Afghans can speak, and will prefer to speak with you in Urdu/ Hindi, rather than in English. The historically porous borders with neighbouring Pakistan has resulted in many Pashtuns [the primary ethnic group in Afghanistan] having lived at one time or the other in Pakistan.

Another reason for the fluency is many Afghans have done their higher studies in India. Last, but not least, till 15 August 2021, there was a fairly-large Indian diaspora in Afghanistan making Bollywood popular and Hindi-speaking employers and colleagues common.

7. Spending money

There are no ATMs in Afghanistan and foreign cards do not work either. You will need to bring all your spending money in cash, preferably in USD, large denominations, and brand-new notes. Money-changers are available everywhere. The exchange rate in October 2023 was 1 USD = 75 Afghani, making the latter a stronger currency than the Indian Rupee. Please note there is no currency black market in Afghanistan.

8. Sights not to miss

Afghanistan’s treasures are located on two routes cutting across the country: the north-south and east-west axes.

At the north end of the popular north-south axis is Afghanistan’s most sacred city Mazar-e Sharif, and the ancient sites of Bactrian and Silk Road era-Balkh and Buddhist Samangan. Kandahar, Taliban’s spiritual capital is at the axis’ southern end. In-between are the cosmopolitan capital Kabul and the 11th Century city of the Sultans of Ghazni.

Star attractions on the rugged and remote east-west axis include the country’s only two UNESCO-listed world heritage sites of the Bamyan Niches and Minaret of Jam, the country’s first national park Band-e Amir, Chisht, hometown of the Chishti Sufis who eventually settled in India, and the Persian historical city of Herat.

9. Getting to those sights

Fixers are people who ‘fix’ things, and in Afghanistan’s tourism sector it translates to obtaining entry permits for 1,000 Afghani/ 13.3 USD per province that you intend to visit or pass through, registration with the Taliban office in the provinces you stay so the government can keep track of foreign nationals within the country, and coordination with Taliban security when visiting certain sites.

These are services you need, and though there are some westerners who travel through the country independently using shared taxis and ducking through checkpoints, it is in your own interest to do things the right way. The Taliban are pretty committed to helping foreign tourists, but they can only help if you are on their records.

My ‘fixers’-cum-translators were Obaid [+93 77 842 6816] and Tamim [+93 70 804 5886] who run a local tour agency. Thorough professionals, being Pashtun, they are also on excellent terms with the current government which comes in handy.

10. And lastly, travel as a solo woman traveller

Yes, as a woman you will always need to wear a burqa and cover your head. As a woman, you can also only move around on your own in the big cities such as Kabul and Herat, and touristy Bamyan. When in the smaller, more traditional towns, a woman needs to be accompanied with a marham, namely a male companion [husband or blood relative]. For a tourist, it translates to being accompanied with a tour guide. Taxi drivers and hotels follow these rules pretty stringently as well.

– – –

I hope I have been able to cover the various travel-related logistics for an Indian passport-holder traveller to this wonderful country. If you have any further questions, please feel free to drop a comment here and I will respond to it soonest.

Wishing you happy travels to places that are less travelled, and understanding them better. ❤

[Note: This blog post is part of a series from my solo travel to Afghanistan for 18 days in October 2023. To read more posts in my Afghanistan series, click here.]