Images of Afghanistan 1971

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 Bus window view of the road over the Hindu Kush. It's a long, long walk home. This was a slave route for centuries. "Hind Kush" means 'Hindu killer'
The Salang Pass crosses the Hindu Kush at about 11,000 feet. This really gave the Russian engineers a headache. Eventually they built massive open-sided 'tunnels' (the black bands in the photo) to protect against frequent avalanches of snow and scree. The photo is taken from half a mile away, before the road switches back through a giant underground tunnel.
A barren, stony river bed, high in the Hindu Kush.
 House with a view. However, the Internet, electricity, uh, water .. are not on offer. Anyone for a holiday away from it all?
Every conquering horde in South Central Asian history has come through this narrow pass where the awesome Hindu Kush range meets the plains of Central Asia. And so with today's road. The hills are littered with crumbling fortresses.
The "Russian" side of the Hindu Kush, on the road to Mazar-e Sharif and Samarkand. All the houses had round, domed roofs of baked mud. Note the heat haze. A few minutes later we were in a sandstorm. Not a fun place.
The famous blue mosque of Mazar-e Sharif. You can't really sense its impact from the photograph. This huge monument of sky-blue tiles is set in an ocean of greenery. It is a focus of devotion for hundreds of miles around.

 

Photography copyrighted to Thor May 2002; all rights reserved