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In the summer of 2012, I was on course to join a bold climbing expedition in the north
of Afghanistan. The plan was to enter through peaceful Tajikistan, to take familiar roads
to the mountain town of Khoroug where I was to cross the border. It wasn't to be so simple.
About to set off from the capital Duschanbe, I was met by stories from those fleeing the
violence in Khoroug. People spoke of 10's of dead, but were hopeful that a ceasefire
called by the Aga Kahn would hold.
In the Badakshan Autonomous region tensions had remained high since a bloody civil war
ended over two decades past. As it would later transpire the violence had been precipitated
by the assasination of Major General Abdullah Nasarov of the local Tajik KGB branch. The
lucrative smuggling of *** and cigarettes close to the border town is controlled by
a delicate interplay between corrupt officials and the local mafia and on this occasion,
speculation suggests that Nasarov may have asked for one payment too many leading to
his ***, and the movement of hundreds of Tajik army forces in to the Badakshan region.
Two days after the assassination the stage was set and in the following days of fighting,
credible estimates put the eventual death toll at approximately 140 killed.
Of course from Duchanbe I had just arrived to start my expedition and wanted to fly my
paraglider. We had no news whatsoever of what really happened.
You see where this river splits...
Khorog, finished, no finished.
We've met a lot of people who have come from Khorog, and, have some very funny stories
about it. To be honest all the information at the moment is so mixed that it is really
hard to know what to do.
I think as you can see I'm tired, and I smell, and I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow,
and I don't think Khorog is safe. Maybe I will go to the Bartang valley. I don't think
I can make contact with the team which is really annoying me.
After getting 50 km from Khorog I changed my plans. I went to the north starting a new
vol bivouac route.
So here we are, day one. It's about six in the morning and I walked up last night. I'm
quite nervous actually. The Zerafshan valley runs for about two hundred kilometers to the
east and the Usbek border is about two or three kilometers away along the top of the
ridge. It's going to be an interesting day's flying.
I'd been looking at this route for years. It was 500km of mountains to the east. By
12 o'clock there were no cumulous. The air was dry, dusty and inverted.
That's pretty much the end of the first day. 16km! There are some guys behind me from
the army over here. I managed to come down in a village with an army base so I'm really
not looking forward to seeing these guys.
I spent 10 very stressful hours with these guys and the KGB. They thought I'd come from
Uzbekistan illegally. I was
very
very relieved when I
was eventually let go.