Entering Taliban Controlled Afghanistan in 2025

If we found someone that spoke English now, I think I would shit in my pants. Afghanistan. A country you probably relate less to this, and more to this. But did you know once upon a time Afghanistan was a European hippie's wet dream? The 60s and 70s were a time for two things, drugs and discovery. Then there were 50 years of war and bloodshed and today it's a country run by devout Islamists with the world's strictest laws on women's rights and freedom of speech.

In this three part series I'll be escaping whatever tourist trail Afghanistan does have left and attempt to cross the Hindu Kush mountains along one of the most remote roads on earth

and connecting with the people who still call it home.

Before we head in I need to make something very clear. Afghanistan is a country run by devout Islamists with the world's strictest laws on women, culture and freedom of expression. The only reason I can travel the way I can there is because I'm a foreign man. Locals, especially women, live under a very

different reality. Come on, change.

Am I going to change money from the blokes right outside of the thing?

100 dollar.

100 dollar, how much?

66. We've got about 7, 8 people stood around me while I get probably ripped off now. What's that? One thousand and six. Look at the state of this man. This is not good.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

God.

And just like that we are in the land of the Taliban. Nice little hour and a half away at the passport control while they had their lunch, which was nice. Hello sir. I want to go to Mazar Al Sharif. Mazar Al Sharif. How much? How much sir? We've got a big crowd here in Afghanistan. One thousand. One thousand. Is that good? That doesn't sound, I don't know. The thing about coming into a country for the first time is that you have absolutely no idea how much anything costs. 1,000, that's about $15.

Okay, let's do it. Thank you, sir. Tashakur. Tashakur, goodbye. Welcome to the very chaotic Masar-e-Sharif.

How are you, sir?

Hi. Hello, brother, how are you? Very good, very good. Very good, very good, very good. Thank you my friend. We're getting a lot of attention, a lot of eyes here in Mazar-e-Sharif and I'll be honest with you, it's very overwhelming. I'm looking for somewhere to sleep and somewhere to eat

Salam salam

Anyone speak any English no no no no I'm looking for a hotel Hotel You can speak English. What's your name brother? My name is Aziz. Aziz. I'm looking for a hotel Hotel for somewhere to sleep come Come with you boys, ok. I'll be honest with you, I've got absolutely no idea what I'm doing right now. I don't know where any hotel is. I don't know where a restaurant is. I don't know where anywhere

is. Do you want to go to a hotel?

Yes I would like to go to a hotel Are you hungry? I'm hungry yeah but I'll go hotel first and then I will go to a restaurant Is that ok?

Do you want to sleep?

See whenever you're in doubt in Afghanistan you can sit on the side of the road, meet two young men, one of them speaks English, and he can take you somewhere that isn't there. Yes brother, Faryab Guesthouse. That sounds like somewhere I would like to be.

Excellent.

This is very good.

Excellent. What do you want my friend? Mike OK. Excellent. This is very good. Excellent.

What do you want my friend?

Mike OK, OKAY.

Great to meet you. Lovely to meet you.

We'll see you again. Thank you mate.

Thank you. Bye bye. Look at that.

The wonderful youth here in Afghanistan looking after me.

It's brilliant.

There is a chap firing a gun. Only a BB gun out the window. Hello sir, you a Taliban? Coming into a new place like Afghanistan for the first time can feel quite overwhelming and quite anxiety-inducing really. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put my camera away,

I'm gonna just acclimatize, I'm gonna just go for a little walk, eat a little bit of food, just acclimatize. And then in the morning, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about the city, tell you the plan, because we've got a good plan, and I'll also explain

to you exactly how travel in Afghanistan works, because it's not as simple as you might think. Hello, my friend. Hello. How are you, brother? Very good. How are you my friend? You okay? Are you okay? Good. In 2021 when the US withdrew from Afghanistan, Afghani government forces fled immediately and the Taliban took over this city, Mazar-e-Sharif, in just a few hours. That immediately then led to the collapse of Kabul. 20 years of US involvement, billions of dollars spent and thousands and thousands of lives lost was undone in quite literally a matter of hours.

Your country? My country is the UK brother. UK. Yeah, you're from Mazar-e-Sharif? What's this, you're working? Yeah, I'm from Sharm El-Ali. Ah, Sharm El-Ali, very cool, very cool brother. So nice to meet youabani. Very cool. Very cool, brother. So nice to meet you, chaps.

So nice to meet you, my friend.

Welcome, welcome.

Ah, we've got the police. We've now got the police coming up to us.

Hello, my friend.

Where are you from? UK. England. England? England. London. London. Hello, sir. How are you, brother? When you come in here yesterday yesterday from Uzbekistan? my job is

I'm a teacher English teacher. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you my friend. Take care and keep Keep working hard. Thank you my friend. Take care. See you chaps Um as much as I would love to stay in the chaotic mess that is Mazar-e-Sharif, I'm gonna show you a little bit of it now, we've got adventures to go and have.

Today we're gonna be traveling through the Hindu Kush mountains, hundreds of kilometers. There's no buses, there's no hotels. We're gonna be hitchhiking, we're gonna be camping. Let's go.

Can I have a lift? See, here in Afghanistan all you need to do is ask for a lift. Very uncomfortable one. While you watch me ride on the back of that cart thing, come here, let me introduce you to my best friend, Kasper.

Mmm, fucking hell.

I also want to tell you about Aerolo. I couldn't think of another way to do this. Now, I've said this before and I'll say it again, I would never promote anything on this channel that I didn't truly believe in right now, the Aerolo eSIM is the biggest game changer in modern travel I have ever come across. I've personally been using it for well over a year. Hong Kong, Vietnam, Iraq, Thailand.

eSIMs are pre-installed SIM cards in your device so you don't have to worry about dealing with physical SIM cards when you go to a new country. You get an eSIM from Aerolo before your trip, install the eSIM, land in the country, activate it and immediately connect. It's that easy and honestly it's changed my life and the way I travel. Aerolo

has eSIMs in over 200 destinations and they even offer regional eSIMs in places like Europe and Asia. So if you want a hassle-free, easy way to stay connected abroad, download Aerolo eSIM now using the link in my description you are mental or with the QR code that's somewhere probably like over there somewhere and you will get three dollars off your first eSIM using the code Mike M I K E Mike thanks airilo you are nuts mate Salam Jan! Ummm... Sholgara?

Kishinda?

Sholgara, no Sholgara?

Ah, ok. Thank you my friend.

Ok, yeah, fuck it, let's go.

Abdul.

Abdul.

Michael. Nice to meet you, sir.

So we've, um, been picked up by a lovely truck driver. Mr. Abdul. Abdul. Abdul. Michael. Wow. Nice to meet you, sir.

So we've been picked up by a lovely truck driver. Mr. Abdul, my new friend, my can.

Mr. Abdul.

I was just standing on the side of the road, gave him a quick wave, and he stopped and said jump in. He didn't say that, but...

I'm with your friend, Abdul. I'm Jonathan, thank you. Tell your friend Abdul that I am very happy to be with him.

Ok, ok.

Where is Abdul going?

I'm going to the mosque.

The mosque?

I'm going to take that as I don't know. I've just found out that Abdul is not actually going the way that I'm going but he's seemed to have started to take me there anyway. Right, how do I do this? Problem is I don't want Abdul to like go out of his way to take me somewhere. He's not going he's literally I'm gonna show you on a map He's going that way. I'm going in those mountains. That's the Hindu Kush mountains there

Abdul's just showing me his very cool knife that he's got

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

brother, brother, brother, brother. Brother, no. Okay, I cannot accept this. Okay, listen, hang on a minute.

Abdul, right?

No, no, no, no, no.

Abdul, you cannot give me your knife, no. Abdul, right? No, no, no, no. Abdul, you cannot give me your knife, brother.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Brother, brother, let me get this.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Too far.

You're going to give me your knife, Abdul.

Gifted, gifted.

Gifted.

Yes. Thank you, my brother.

Thank you so much. Thank you Abdul. You take care brother.

Thank you my friend, thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Take care.

Bye Abdul, bye. I can't believe what's just happened. He showed me his knife. And then he said keep it I tried giving him some money and he just gave it to me is it a bad idea to carry with me a knife through Afghanistan. We're gonna find out. And now we've got to figure out what's happening next really.

How are you sir? Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Umm, Sholgada. This way. Walking is okay? You are from? England. Anglican. You are alone now?

Alone, yes. Why? Because I like to travel alone.

Are you not scared?

No, I'm not scared.

Here, let's come here.

I have my camera, is it okay?

Okay, okay, okay.

Thank you, sir.

Where is this?

You think I should be scared?

Scary place?

No, no, it's not scary, I think your people think that Afghanistan is scary, it's like something...

I think you're right, I think that some people think Afghanistan is a scary place, and so do I. I am sometimes nervous, sometimes a little bit worried, but... what do you think?

I think it's our country.

It's your home? Yeah it's our safe place right now. And we have a good security.

And we are happy.

Good brother.

We are thinking about you.

No it's okay I mean I feel before came, I was a little bit scared.

Yeah.

But since I've been here, I feel quite safe. Everyone's friendly. Everyone's nice. I can see that there's a lot of security. Who will harm me?

I think you're really brave.

Thank you, brother. Thank you so much. I appreciate it a lot. What's your name, brother?

My name is Fahim. Fahim. Fahim. You can be here and have lunch with us.

Ok sure, I'll tell you what, I won't have lunch but I'll have some chai. It's really nice. Abdul, the truck driver, just gave that to me and he said keep this and I tried to give him some money for it but he wouldn't accept.

It's washed.

It will wash.

It will wash, ok thank you bro. This road through the mountains, you think it will be okay? Maybe a little bit dangerous maybe.

Why?

But there's other way. Yeah, but that has to go the other way. We must go straight to the mountain.

Yeah, but that has to go the long way.

Yeah, long.

I want to go this way, to the mountain. There are some dangerous people there?

No, not much.

Let's see.

There is some dangerous, man.

We'll figure it out.

Afghani people are also scared from them.

Really?

Yeah.

Why? In that way scared from them. Really? Yeah. Why? In the area where we have desert.

Desert?

We have to pass from desert.

Yeah.

There's maybe some thief.

Some thief?

Yeah.

But no one will take me? No one will kidnap me?

No, no, no.

Okay, cool. Okay, cool. If there's thieves, it's okay. So my new friend Fahim said, don't go this way. I said, why? He said, he said, it's dangerous. And I said, why is it dangerous? And he said, I said, it's, you know,

am I gonna get kidnapped? And he said, no, he said, there are some thieves. Maybe that knife I got from Abdul was a sign and it's going to protect me. I'm going to go anyway.

Brother.

Kishinde.

Kishinde.

Fahim.

He's going to take me.

Okay.

You take care brother.

Thank you.

Where are you from?

UK.

London.

London.

Yes bro.

Where are you from? Where are, bro. Where are you from? Where are you from? Where are you from?

Seattle.

Seattle.

Seattle is good.

Seattle is good.

Seattle is good.

Okay, I understand. I don't understand.

Thank you, sir.

Let's go

Ma

my lovely new truck driver friend has stopped he stops to get me an energy drink they're very popular in Afghanistan alcohol is illegal and he wouldn't let me pay for it and the more I travel the more this happens the guiltier I feel because I'm not the poor homeless backpacker I once was and I can pay for my own drinks and it's a lovely sign of respect for him to pay for me but I just feel bad you know have a look at this this is the most Afghani place you've ever seen in your entire life?

Shomabe terina sti.

Shomabe terina sti.

Let's have a look. Ah, he's carrying. Guess what he's carrying?

Sand.

Surely, you'd think, hey dude, how about don't transport loads of sand across the country because it's bloody everywhere.

Chai, chai. Chai, okay, chai.

Let's have some chai. Yeah. Thank you, my friend. So it turns out that the sand that's being dropped off here is being dropped off at the house of the Taliban commander and he's invited me in for some tea. Chai for him is okay?

He can come in?

You are my friend.

He is your friend?

Excellent. Good.

Then we are all friends. Thank is your friend? Excellent. Good.

Then we are all friends. Thank you. I can't lie. There's kind of like a bit of a constant subtle buzz of anxiety. So, sir, Mr. Taliban commander, I'm trying to travel to Kishinda.

Kishinda. Kishinda, this way?

We've basically travelled off the main road to come to this village So I need to figure out how to get out of the village

Car or truck?

Truck, yes

I go truck, Kishinda

Daraysu, yes

Truck, Bamyan Okay Small car, you I go truck, Kisindeh Daraysoof Yes

Truck, Bamyan

Small car, you

Small car, ok

So, that was a nice little tea break with my Taliban commander friend and now I need to figure out where I'm going or how I'm going there because this chap is driving back to Mazar-e-Sharif and I've got absolutely no idea where I am.

Can I give you some money brother?

No money.

Let me just give you a hundred. No, no, no money. Brother. I have money. Let me just give you a hundred.

No money. Ok, ok, ok, thank you. Thank you.

Salam, how are you? Can I join? It's ok, thank you. Thank you my friend, good.

How are you brother? Where are you going? Where are you going?

Bazaar.

We are going to Bazaar.

Bazaar?

Ah, Bazaar in Shah...

Bazaar in Shorgara.

Shorgara, perfect. I'll come with you guys.

Where are you going?

I want to go to...

Bamiyan?

Er, Bamiyan. But I'll go to Kishander and then Dar-i-Suf and then Bamiyan. Afghanistan bro, you are the coordinator for vaccination?

Coordination, yes.

Okay, cool.

This chap is the coordinator for vaccinations in this area,

which is very interesting.

Can I help you, sir?

No, no, no.

Are you sure?

Yes.

Okay.

Let's see if they sell ciggies over here. I left, by the way, I am now only smoking when I'm traveling, not any other time, just so you know I don't know how much you just take thank you that's a cool see

cities like when I'm traveling in cities they start to make me feel like overwhelmed and a bit anxious. I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm just getting older. I love coming to like little places like this. Quiet.

Not mental. This is from WHO? WHO. Is this, is this aid? Is this like aid from World Health Organization? This, these vaccinations, they come from WHO?

They get sent from WHO. So this is like, um, uh, foreign, foreign aid? You know what I mean by foreign aid? From, uh, the UN?

Yes, yes, yes.

From the UN. Ah, okay. He's carrying aid that's coming from the World Health Organization and I guess the UN, foreign aid, and he's delivering it to the people. The vaccinations for the children and the women?

Six months to ten years.

Six months to ten years? Wow. And it's all free?

Yes, free.

It's free for the people?

Yes, free for the people.

I have a motorcycle. Yeah. You want to Kishindy car. Kishindy car. Yeah, I think I'll go to Kishindy. Kishindy car or truck or anything. Truck, no truck. Thank you my brother. Thank you so much. See you bro. Take care bro. The boy is... he's sick?

Your boy?

Yes, yes, yes.

What's wrong with him?

He has a problem?

Yes, problem.

He is your son?

Your boy?

Your son. Ah, he's his son. Okay. I hope him, inshallah, he gets better. I hope so.

Goodbye.

You can go this way from Kishindeh.

Kishindeh, thank you sir. Thank you, take care. I've got a feeling that foreigners don't come. I'm waiting. I don't know. I'm waiting. I don't know.

I'm waiting.

I don't know. I'm waiting. I don't know.

I don't know. I'm waiting. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. Are you going to Kishindeh district or to a village in Kishindeh?

I am going to the main Kishindeh village, the main Kishindeh town.

I am going to the main Kishindehand The main city of Kishand is Tashus

Kishand

Friend friend friend

Friend friend friend

Bye

Goodbye friends, take care Bye bye bye Thank you, how are you? I'm good

Michael, nice to meet you brother God have I got everything. Travelling with a massive backpack and like a little bag with all your life in it. Okay, okay, okay, cool. I don't know what he said. Ah, you have four children.

This is the problem when you're in the mountains and you are now having got any signal and you're speaking to a man that

obviously doesn't think well of you.

I don't know, brother.

No daddy.

This is what a roadblock looks like in rural Afghanistan. That was a bit scary.

Mate this guy is so funny because like everything he says and he's been talking at me for a while, everything he says sounds like aggressive and a bit scary and then I translated it to Dutch

and it's like

Hey brother yeah of course you can come with me and I'll drop you off at the bazaar and you can rest there and then tomorrow you can get another ride from there but the way he says it it's just like Thank you my friend, thank you God in this country honestly you can go from like, anxious and a bit scared to just completely fucking relaxed

in literally a matter of seconds. Thank you my friend, thank you.

That's no problem at all. This is humanity. Is he a single or married? Good evening. and clean them up and give them back to him. No problem at all, but now he's heading to Bamiyan, so you trust in God. Tell him once he goes abroad, he can send me a friend request so I can come abroad too. Or how does that work? Also, is he married or single?

Take care.

Brother, thank you so much. We've now made it over that mountain and we're down at the bottom of this valley and it's stunning have a look. The time is 4.30 we've covered a lot of ground today, way more than I thought I was going to cover.

Soon it's going to be time to start looking for somewhere to sleep. These roads are just getting worse and worse.

And we've got another goat road block. This is just mental man. I know you are from Largai. I know you are from Chubaki.

No, listen.

If you are a man, you have to obey the law. I am pointing at you. Listen to me. Listen to me. You are forced. If you tell your family that you are fighting, they will kill you.

Thank you. Let's keep in touch. You call me, you text me. Thank you. Let's keep whatsapp. You call me you text me. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you daddy We're in daddy soof at the beginning of the video I said I was gonna be traveling straight through the Hindu Kush All the way to Bamiyan now We're about halfway

We did halfway in about what six hours it's now five o'clock Salam alaikum and so we're quite literally right in the middle of the mountains here in a small town called Daddy Souf Salam alaikum and we are probably gonna to attract the entire town. Hello my friend.

Hello.

Hello. Okay, I'll come and have a smoke with you guys. Would anybody like a cigarette?

No smoking?

Smoking?

Nobody in Afghanistan smokes. I thought I was going to come here and everyone was gonna be smoking

Lucy

I want to go to restaurant Sleeping restaurant this way Okay, cool, thank you This way restaurant bizarre bizarre this way. Okay. Thank you. This way, restaurant, bazaar. Bazaar this way, okay. Thank you, sir. Okay, take care. Thank you, my friend. Salam alaikum. Salam. Salam. If we found someone

that spoke English now, I think I would jizz in my pants. Bro! It's definitely the most intense place I've ever traveled. You're walking down a road in a town in the middle of the mountains and every single person, every single person, salam alaikum, is staring at you, every single person.

Marhaba.

And it's just so intense. English? London. London. London. London. London. Brother, um, restaurant? Sleeping here? Goodbye. Fucking hell. It is mental. Thank you brother. And you either feel like either the safest person in the entire town or the least safe. This way? Ah, that's my friend.

Ah, here. Here, ok.

What's the problem, bro? Can I help you?

You speak English? Oh my God, bro!

I'm so happy to see you. Ang Lee, he speaks English. Oh my bloody hell. I'm so happy to see you. Angli, he speaks English. Oh my bloody hell. Somewhere to sleep, somewhere to eat, somewhere to rest.

What's your name brother?

Oh my goodness, we've met someone that speaks English.

This is my humanity job.

Where are you from?

I'm from England. England. England, London. Welcome Afghanistan. Thank you my brother. Welcome in our province, Samangan especially. Thank you so much. In our district. Samangan, I like Samangan already. Yeah. I like it already. You were an English teacher in Mazar Sharif. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very cool. I wasn't a teacher

but I teach it.

Okay.

I teach it online.

This is my brother. This is your brother? My brother's shop.

Your brother's shop.

How are you, sir?

Michael. Very fine, thank you. So nice to meet you.

And you speak English as well?

Abdul Latif.

Dude, I the luckiest man in the whole of Samangan because I met you guys.

Thank you, thank you. Everything you need, here is in your serve also. Thank you my brother. This is your shop.

Thank you my brother.

Yeah.

This is my brother's shop and this is your serve.

Thank you so much.

And that is my pharmacy, new Sadat pharmacy.

Okay, this is your pharmacy. Sadat pharmacy. And this is your brother's shop.

Excellent.

I want to, I course, of course. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you, brother. How are you? You are the best host.

You are the best host.

You are the best host.

You are the best.

You are the best.

TikTok.

I considered camping a lot on this trip, but I think now I'm here in this town, I think it might be a better idea to get a room

instead of going to the outskirts and camping. I think now I'm here in this town, I think it might be a better idea to get a room instead

of going to the outskirts and camping.

Here is also a room that is inshallah safe.

Ok, cool.

Because this is my cousin's.

Your cousin's place? Yeah.

Well if he's your cousin then I trust him already.

Yeah, yeah, no problem.

I already trust you a lot my brother.

I close my shop and I want to go to whom? My house.

But when I see you I tell myself I should. I should help this bride. Thanks man. That's the hospital and Abdul Malik's father is the pharmacist at the hospital and you're the pharmacist in the town, bribed pharmacist. You've come from a long line of pharmacists.

Yeah.

We quite literally started a parade of young people. Why do you think that the young people...

The boys are following you.

Why do you think that they're so interested in me?

Really?

Yeah, why do you think? Really, you're interested or not? No, tell me, tell me. Because it's a different culture.

Different culture.

Because it's a different culture and seeing or looking at people is different in your mind.

Because, yeah, this is different.

Why, do you see many foreigners travelling here?

No, you are the first one that I see.

I'm the first foreigner you've seen here?

Yeah.

Wow, and this is your hometown?

Yeah.

You grew up here? Yeah, I also studied civil engineering.

Civil engineering?

Yeah. You're a smart guy. Thank you. Much smarter than me.

I'm a civil engineer also.

Besides civil engineering, I also... engineer, pharmacist, brain surgeon. You're a brain surgeon as well? Yeah, yeah. This is the room? Cool. Let's check it out.

Hello sir.

As-salamu alaykum. As-salamu alaykum. How are you uncle? Nice to see you.

Nice to see you uncle.

You speak Arabic?

Err, it's okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Look at this crowd we've got here. So intense. It must be very interesting to be, must be very interesting for these kids. Not seeing many foreigners here before. It's hard for me to even talk right now.

It's overwhelming.

I'm telling him to give you a good room.

Good room, bad room, it's okay for me.

No, no, no, good room, safe room, all things.

Listen, tell these guys they'll see me again, okay?

And I'll come back.

You're not leaving without me, I'm not leaving.

You'll see me again, we can all have a chai together, okay?

Okay, bye.

Okay, goodbye.

Nice to see you.

Good owl. Nice to see you. Good help.

No, I know.

No, that's okay, yeah. Thank you, my friend.

Look at that, amazing. Perfect.

Amazing, yeah. Very comfortable. What an absolutely insane first day in Afghanistan. There's been tense moments, there's been anxious moments. There's been slightly scary moments, like when that guy started doing gun symbols in the truck and I didn't understand a word he was saying we've ended it in such a beautiful way Abdul Malik finding me showing me around helping me find somewhere to stay in this very interesting town in the

middle of the Hindu Kush I'm gonna end the video there but the next one will follow on from this because we want to see more of Abdul Malik. We want to see more of this town. We want to see more of this town. And we want to see more of this fascinating country.