Afghanistan 6 One legged Afghans

Particular areas to be careful of include dry riverbeds, drainage ditches, dykes, irrigation channels and anywhere else where water and gravity will combine to wash the UXO and channel them towards. Also be weary of any footpaths in or around Afghan National Police compounds, as they will be used for foot patrols and often mined.

NEVER EVER, trust an Afghan telling you an area that you are not extremely sure of is okay to walk.

Afghan's will tell you what they think you want to hear and cultural issues will cause them to always err on the side of giving the Faranji (Thats you) what they want.

It is a twisted form of hospitality, unless they are 100% sure there are mines there, they won't tell you it is dangerous.

The flip side is most Afghans simply don't know where the mines and UXO are after thirty years of war, and there are a lot of one legged Afghans to testify to the fact.

Also you will often see stencil painted 'HALO Mine Trust verified' and similar around Afghanistan in ruined buildings and the myriad of ruined armoured vehicles and tanks. This does not mean they are safe, or haven't been booby trapped, it simply means that once, a few years ago, the HALO guys or someone like them came along, decommissioned the vehicle and checked it for ammunition, UXO and booby traps then.

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Afghanistan- is it safe 5 UXO

The common misconception that all Hazara are anti-taliban and friendly is extremely wrong as prominent Hazara militants have thrown in their lot with the Taliban and operate often with impunity from Dai Kundi and surrounding regions, heavily backed by Iranian arms, including the mines.

The areas East and North of Herat in particular are like the Wild West and among the more dangerous in the country. As the roads here are few, poor, dirt and often used by ISAF and CF, they are probably the most IED & mine ridden for tourists to encounter. 

Anti-Personell Land Mines and other forms of Un-Exploded Ordnance (UXO)

Assume absolutely everywhere in Afghanistan that doesn't receive considerable amounts of foot traffic is a potential minefield. Often an area will be marked with some form of simple local signage to indicate known quantities of uncleared mines and UXO's. This is typically in the form of red paint on rocks, or sometimes sticks with red ribbon or the top painted red. BEWARE: Often the warning will be only a few drips of paint on a rock, often covered in thick dust and unless you are actively looking for them, they are easy to miss.

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Afghanistan 4 - Road bombs & Mines

If you see or hear a bomb, do not go to the area to have a look, as there will usually be multiple bombs in the area to target Afghan's who just can't resist having a look and first responders 

Leave as fast as your legs will carry you. 

Roadside bombs & Road Mines:

These are a growing threat in Afghanistan along major roads, but as of the time of writing, in the roads most used by tourists, particularly the main highways from Kabul to Mazaar i Sharif, from Pul i Kumri to the Tajik border and Islam i Qala to Herat they are not so much an issue due to traffic numbers.

BE WARNED: Anywhere off these roads is "Indian Country" and the risks will multiply greatly as the traffic flow decreases, both in terms of IED's, mines and roadblocks.

For tourists the most noteworthy areas for IED's and mines are probably the areas surrounding the Hazarajat (Bamiyan province), as well as the Hazarajat itself. CF forces have begun reporting considerable increases in the finds of IED's and TC6 Anti-Tank mines along the roads, including in very close proximity to Bamiyan and the road to Band e Emir and the number of attacks on New Zealand personnel have gone from effectively zero to considerable, in what was (and probably still is) the "safest" province in Afghanistan.

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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.

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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.

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Afghanistan - is it safe?

Hopefully everyone here, both our regulars and recently present tourists and workers will contribute here with areas they know best, experience, and handy tips and we'll try compile a great resource on the amazing country that is Afghanistan.

Can we try and keep politics and personal issues out of this thread too, as much as possible.

Afghanistan is Awesome. There, you heard it here first folks. It is a truly amazing destination, abound with stunning scenery, a proud, fantastic people and, we'll all admit it, a real sense of adventure to it. But it is a truly dangerous place. It is somewhere that the uninformed, unprepared and the just plain the unlucky can run into very real trouble. Hopefully once everyone chips in this thread should be able to answer a lot of the basic questions most people have, and then base their further research from there. Good Luck!

(to be continued)