Afghanistan 3 - in a ditch with your penis in your mouth

Chances are you will be in and out so quickly you're luck will hold, but you need to realize that your situational awareness is extremely limited if not blind once in country, and you are just going on a wing and a prayer.

All this information is provided to you free of charge, so in the event you end up one legged from a mine, kidnapped, found beaten to death in a ditch with your severed penis in your mouth, or on Al Arabiya TV in an orange jumpsuit, that's how liable I am for it.

Use this information at your own risk. It is a heads up, it is not definitive, up to the minute or guaranteed. You've been warned.

 Some specific threats: (Note: This is a quick overview of specific items and areas, this is not and does not intend to be a definitive list of Afghan threats and highly susceptible to change. The bad guys learn faster than we do.

Bombs:

Suicide Bombers (Vest and VBIED) This is the one most potential tourists to Afghanistan seem to get all worried about, but in reality, bombs should be the least of your worries. To be involved in a bombing of these types you would have to be extremely unlucky. These can hit anywhere and everywhere in Afghanistan (In fact are more likely in Kabul and the North where security into towns is weaker), but try avoid crowds where possible. They will often divert their target if they see westerners in the area also.

VBIED's are always going to be a danger near government buildings and any official gathering. These are the big guns of the Taliban and relatively rare, but extremely deadly when they occur.

(to be continued)

Afghanistan - is it safe 2

Security:

Afghanistan will feel like the safest most peaceful place on Earth, until something happens, you see someone killed, a bomb go off or a city go into lockdown. Complacency kills. 

Afghanistan is a war zone.

Alright you knew that already, but it is a point that just cannot be underscored enough. This is not an attempt to scare you off or pretend that going to Afghanistan is some banzai kamikaze suicide mission, rather an attempt to try and collate as much open source information as possible to tourists who won't have the resources available to them.

The most important things to note are that 99% of incidents won't ever get reported, what you will hear about will literally be the tip of the iceberg, and chances are the things most people worry about, are the minor risks, and the mundane are the more serious.

You need to know why you are going to Afghanistan and be prepared for the event you may well not return.

(to be continued)