Istanbul to New Delhi over land alternative route through afghanistan · Alternative route through Afghanistan in Istanbul to New Delhi over land
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Alternative route through Afghanistan in Istanbul to New Delhi over land
Alternative route through Afghanistan in Istanbul to New Delhi over land
From Teheran to Lahore, there are two main routes.
The usual route today is as shown above. Swing Southeast from Teheran to enter Pakistan at its extreme Western edge, bypassing Afghanistan. This is safer. Travelers with any caution at all should avoid Afghanistan.
The main overland route of the 60s and 70s went East to the Iranian city of Mashad, then to Herat, Khandahar, Kabul in Afghanistan and down through the Khyber Pass to Pakistan. This is described below, but is generally considered too dangerous today.
Afghanistan was scary even in the 70s; most of the men carried rifles and they all had knifes. However, nearly all the guns were single-shot, mostly muzzle loaders with quite a few 19th century British army Martini-Henrys with lever action. Then in 1979, the USSR invaded them. Soon many Afghans had AK-47s. Today nearly every Afghan man has an automatic weapon.
Of course, not all Afghans are likely to take potshots at tourists, or to kidnap one. Most are friendly, helpful, and hospitable. However, as the only country to be invaded by both the USSR and the US, they do have some reason to resent light-skinned foreigners. With everything still (as of mid-2007) chaotic, going there is spectacularly risky, though details of the dangers change from time to time.
If you do decide to risk Afghanistan, see our article on War zone safety.
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Istanbul to New Delhi over land Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.