After several days stuck in Peshawar, Pakistan because of heavy fighting in the Khyber Pass, we finally got the green light to move through very early in the morning. Tensions were running quite high as the tribesmen had been killing each other only hours before and were still freely roaming around the area with twitchy trigger fingers and guns in their hands…

The government has very little control in the tribal areas. As such, we had an armed guard in our mini bus with us and a convoy of soldiers behind us. However, we still had to disguise ourselves in native garb and close the curtains on all the windows in the mini bus… As such, I apologize for the lesser quality photos in the first part of this post. We were under strict security conditions and I didn’t want to get the other members of our group killed. So, these first pictures were all taken on the sly and quite rapidly which, unfortunately, usually reduces quality…

The famous gateway to the Khyber Pass… This is even on the currency:

Lots of traffic was backed up because the Khyber Pass had been closed for so long and many people were desperate to get through having been without food or water for several days:

A warlord’s compound strategically located on a hill overlooking the road:

A goat along the Khyber Pass:

Not exactly like a drive to your local grocery store… We received mixed accounts as to whether this bridge was blown up or had simply been washed out:

Railroad bridge… The railroad tracks looks fine here, but higher up, large sections have been washed away, just leaving rails hanging out over a void. It’s an interesting sight:

Another warlord’s compound:

And yet another:

This is only the side entrance to the massive compound of what is said to be one of the richest men in Pakistan… How did he make his immense fortune? Counterfeiting U.S. currency, of course:

Trucks grinding down to the border crossing at Torkham:

One sees all sorts of transportation arrangements:

A Khyber Rifles guard with a Khyber Rifles outpost in the background:

The armed guard that was in our vehicle:

A child begging near the border crossing (Yes, I gave her some money):

Another child begging:

This is another beggar and he was a little dictator – shoving the other children out of the way and hitting them so he could be first in line to beg from us:

Tribal fighters:

U.S. Troops on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border at Torkham…

By the way, I have to thank Nigel for these military pictures on the Pakistan side of the border. I had some great pictures of my own, but as we were passing through the fortified border checkpoint, I was a little too obvious about snapping a picture of the CIA field officer that was present (it was a great picture, too) and immediately was surrounded by armed Americans that made me delete all pictures I had taken of the area. Fortunately, Nigel was a little more discrete:

More U.S. Soldiers:

The Torkham border crossing:

As soon as we crossed in Afghanistan, the road was lined with these cargo containers… People live in these and have small businesses inside them – feeding off of the border traffic:

Starting out on the highway toward Kabul:

The first police checkpoint we came to. One of many, many police checkpoints we would pass through… This particular group didn’t hit us up for some baksheesh, but that is a frequent occurrence:

JALALABAD

Not a nice place… This was the one time on the entire trip when my “I need to get the fuck out of here” instinct kicked in. This is still a Taliban stronghold and an oppressive tension filled the air for the duration of our stay.

At one point, beggars swarmed over us – ripping and tearing at our clothing and trying to pull us down to be consumed by the mob. And, interestingly enough, the women were the most physically aggressive and vicious of the beggars:

A Jalalabad street scene:

Knife dealers in Jalalabad:

I thought these graphics I photographed on a rickshaw while driving out of town summed up Jalalabad pretty well:

Headed up the Kabul Gorge:

Passing a camel train:

An unintentional self-portrait taken in the Kabul Gorge… The clothing I’m wearing is part of my shalwar kameez that I was required to wear for the morning crossing through the Khyber Pass (without the camera and sunglasses, of course). The clothing is very functional and comfortable:

We literally came to a fork in the road as the main route into Kabul was closed (due either to a bombing or road construction – we were never able to determine which story was the truth):

So, we and everyone else wishing to get to Kabul, had to take this back road into the capital:

The flag you see alongside the road is a martyr’s flag… When someone is killed in battle (martyred) a flag is placed in their honor where they fell. One can determine the size of a battle by the number of martyr’s flags strewn across an area and can determine the significance of the person killed by the volume of the flags:

Another view of the road we were on:

This is what the driving was like – dodging and weaving through big trucks on blind corners:

If you think it is difficult to see, well, you’re right… Now mix in the fact that you’re driving in Afghanistan which is sporty even when you can see where you’re going:

You always have to be ready for zipping around a corner and coming across something like this old boy losing control of his donkeys:

Picture A: The road is collapsing out from under the truck… And it is difficult to tell, but the guy at the back of the truck was riding there and he is bailing out:

Picture B: The results:

Driving through the mountains:

We stopped briefly at this camp… These lads have an innovative automotive services business (You can tell they do work on vehicles by the fact that they have tires attached to the building. If someone has tires stacked or attached next to a building, that is a code indicating that they work with vehicles). The business consists solely of blowing the accumulated road dust out of air filters utilizing the air compressor you see pictured here:

Other travelers stopped at the camp:

Some of the occupants posing with their machine gun:

Making one’s way through the Khyber Pass is a great adventure.  I would strongly recommend it.