The Two Faces of the Taliban: The most dangerous border that people in the most dangerous city discouraged

By Lee Shin-seok,
Conflict zone reporter Journey through The Wrong Side of the Tracks

The Taliban, an Islamic extremist armed group, has ruled Afghanistan (hereinafter referred to as Afghanistan) twice (1996-2001 and 2021-present). The Taliban’s first term in power in Afghanistan was marred by tyranny that suppressed all freedoms. The Taliban, who are entering their second term in power in 2021, say they are different from before, but the West’s gaze towards them is not much different from the past. Which is the real face of the Taliban: what the Taliban say they are or what the West’s observers say about them?

In December 2023, Lee Shin-seok, a reporter specializing in reporting conflict areas for ‘The AsiaN’; who faced Afghanistan under the Taliban with his body and mind, tells the story of the Taliban and Afghanistan as they are. -editor

Nasir Aijaz, AsiaN’s Pakistan branch director (left) and the author. Nasir Aijaz, who lives in Karachi, the most dangerous city in the world and a metropolis with a population of 20 million, is a renowned journalist who also serves as the editor-in-chief of ‘Sindh Courier’. He dissuaded the author, saying, “Crossing the border by car alone is tantamount to suicide.”

SEOUL: Before crossing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, I stopped by Karachi in southern Pakistan, one of the most inhospitable cities in the world, to obtain a visa and gather information. Nasir Aijaz, Pakistan branch manager of the AsiaN, who lives in Karachi, and his acquaintances working in the local media gave me a warm welcome. However, when I revealed to them my plan to cross into Afghanistan through Chaman, the border area between the two countries, they completely stopped me.

Ehtisham (left), from an entrepreneurial family, and his lawyer met at a fish market in Karachi, Pakistan. They said that because they live in the most dangerous city, they carry personal firearms and move with bodyguards. Ehtisham, who was recovering from a car accident, carried a cane, which contained a well-polished long sword for self-defense.

The same was true for another group of acquaintances I met in Karachi. This group was comprised of people from various fields, including real estate businessmen, lawyers, and high-ranking government officials, all of whom asked, “Why are you going to such a dangerous place?” “Think again,” he persuaded me. I asked two groups to “convince me why it is dangerous and should be avoided,” but no one could explain clearly. This may be because the situations in the border area were complicated and it was not known when and where an unexpected situation would occur. How else could people in the world’s most dangerous city be persuaded not to cross the world’s most dangerous border?

The hotel I had booked in Quetta was unusable due to a shootout the day before, so I quickly moved to the ‘Serena’ Hotel. That night, I couldn’t even sleep for fear that something bad might happen.

Having traveled all over the world, I also knew to some extent the notoriety of the section between Quetta, Pakistan and Kandahara, Afghanistan. Of course, when I came to the site and heard from the locals, the danger felt even greater. Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, borders the borders of Iran and Afghanistan, and in particular, the road from Quetta to Afghanistan is a lawless area beyond the reach of public authorities. Not only tourists but also locals are reluctant to go there.

In fact, looting and arson are common in this area, and crimes such as robbery and murder are committed after forcibly stopping moving cars. It is said that even shooting at moving trains and bombings occur frequently. Armed groups such as the Pakistan Taliban (TPP), the Balochistan Liberation Army, local warlords, and unknown bandits have been wreaking havoc here for 20 to 30 years.

In a previous article, the author mentioned that the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is in chaos due to refugee protests and soldiers suppressing them. However, unlike their disputes that take place within the borders of the state, the criminal activities of armed groups take place in lawless areas. You can only reach the border by passing through that lawless land. This is why when I tried to cross from Pakistan to Afghanistan by land, all my acquaintances in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran tried to stop me. Nevertheless, I went ahead with my intention. It’s still difficult to explain in words, but as a journalist and traveler who sometimes has to take risks, I felt that if I couldn’t get over this gateway, I couldn’t get over anything else.

The next morning in Quetta, the cup I had bought at a German Christmas market and was carrying around broke. I have a habit of brushing my teeth whenever I feel nervous. Just as he was about to enter a dangerous place, the cup broke and felt an ominous omen.

The first day in Quetta did not disappoint. A gunfight broke out the day before at the accommodation I booked, so check-in was impossible. He had no choice but to go to a nearby high-end hotel. We paid over 300,000 won per night, but the concierge and facilities were not worth the price. However, security was tight and entry was only possible through double iron gates and X-ray screening.

The roads in Pakistan’s Balochistan province were paved more cleanly than any other road between Pakistan and Afghanistan because they were used as supply routes when US troops were stationed there. The desert is always beautiful.

The next day, when I asked the hotel to arrange for a vehicle to go to the border, I was told that they could not guarantee it because the route was so dangerous. In the end, I personally arranged a taxi and set off. I saw factories emitting black smoke throughout the desert, so I asked the taxi driver and he said they were brick factories. The smoke coming from baking bricks in the furnace darkened the sky. It was known that there were oil and coal deposits in this area, but there were no valuable resources anywhere and only bricks that caused serious air pollution were being manufactured.

To put it in one word, the desert villages reaching the Chaman border were chaos itself. Even though it was Pakistani territory, the Afghan flag, the flag of the Pashtun political party, the mainstream of Afghanistan, and the black Sunni flag, which seemed to hint at the end of the century, were fluttering. I thought it was their own ‘liberated zone’ where they were barely able to survive in another country. I escaped the chaotic and lawless zone safely, but it seemed like this kind of luck would never happen again

Although the area was inhospitable and had a particularly low population density, several villages were visible. Each village had its own characteristics. For example, a very shabby village with houses made of wood was where mainly Afghans lived. Among them, the atmosphere was quite different in villages where the Pashtun people, the majority population of Afghanistan, live.

The Pashtun people are the people who fought against and defeated the British army during the British invasion. As this history has been passed down from generation to generation, the spirits of our ancestors seem to still remain in the Pashtun village.

As I drove by taxi, the car arrived near the border. Contrary to concerns, there were no unexpected incidents in the crime-ridden area. My head started pounding as I faced the border of chaos without even having time for a sigh of relief. There were so many people that it was difficult to tell where the border line was.

Gateway to the Chaman border

Many of the people gathered here were illegal immigrants from Afghanistan who were kicked out of Pakistan according to the Pakistani government’s deportation order on November 1, 2023. Afghans who have been embroiled in war for about 40 years have fled to Pakistan, and their number is estimated at around 3.5 to 4 million. Among them, 500,000 illegal immigrants were in a position to leave Pakistan. Among them, there were those who were staying in Pakistan due to political issues, and telling them to return to Afghanistan under the Taliban would have been the same as telling them to ‘go to their deaths.’

Regarding this, Nasir Aijaz said, “Most of the illegal immigrants from Afghanistan living in Pakistan do not have an identity card issued by the Afghan government or have been involved in criminal activities in the past.

“Ineligible people like these are being kicked out because they cannot obtain residence permits from the Pakistani authorities,” he said.

Mr. W, a Korean-American missionary, told the inside story in more detail. According to her, the Hazaras, one of Afghanistan’s tribes, make up a significant portion of the illegal immigrants. Because the Hazara people are similar in appearance to East Asians, they suffered from severe discrimination even within Afghanistan, and many of them were driven out to Pakistan without even having a proper identity.

Chaman border area. This place had the poorest environment among the 50 refugee camps I have visited. Since it was not possible to take pictures from the car, all scenes here were filmed from the passenger seat of a taxi.

The Pakistan-Afghan border area is considered one of the hottest places in Asia. In the summer, the temperature goes well over 40 degrees Celsius, and in this desert area, the heat from the sand amplifies the heat. Not only was there sand, but there were also pebbles and rocky mountains here and there, so the sun’s rays were radiated, and the heat was also great. Because it was a desert, it was difficult to find water. I occasionally saw a flowing stream, but I couldn’t drink it because I had no way of knowing if it was waste water from a nearby factory.

The author has visited refugee camps on almost every island in the Balkan Peninsula and Greece. I think I’ve been to many other refugee camps around the world, and I’ve never found a place worse than this. Dust, sand, wind, and people were all mixed together and it was difficult to find a proper tent. There wasn’t even a UNHCR tent, which is common everywhere in the world. Refugees here were surviving day after day, sleeping in the desert under tarps, barely able to avoid the sunlight, in the desert where it was difficult to get even a sip of water, let alone food.

Afghan refugees were protesting every day against the Pakistani government’s deportation order, and the Pakistani military was on edge trying to stop them.

People who had nowhere else to go were protesting day after day, dedicating themselves to evil. The Pakistani army opposing them was suppressing the protesters in a murderous manner. The taxi driver must have been afraid, so he put a friend in the back seat and told me, “Never open or roll down the window. Don’t film anyone. “He must not talk to anyone,” he advised. I had to pass through a place where hell literally unfolded. It was the first sight I saw while traveling around the world.

When I got out of this living hell and reached the border, I saw the wire fence surrounding the border, piles of trash, and children wandering around pulling empty carts. The children were traveling between the immigration offices of both countries, moving luggage on carts and receiving money in return. In my case, when I went through immigration and went to collect my luggage, the boy insisted, “I didn’t receive the money.” I was really embarrassed. As I thought, ‘It must have been because they had a hard time making a living,’ I felt sorry for the children.

Cars rushing towards the border. This place, where people, dirt, and exhaust fumes from vehicles and factories were mixed, had poorer hygiene than any other refugee camp I have visited.

After safely completing the Pakistan departure screening process, I handed over my luggage to a middle-aged man and went through the Afghan entry process. He finally set foot in Afghanistan. As he later learned, crossing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on foot requires thorough planning in advance. Not only must you contact the immigration offices and customs officials of both countries in advance to ask for their cooperation, but you must also recruit people to move luggage from both countries to reduce unexpected variables.

In addition, a vehicle must be recruited to wait at the border between the two countries, and this process alone takes several days. The author handled this entire process on site alone, not knowing that even locals would not be able to make thorough plans in advance.

Armed groups active in lawless areas, angry crowds surrounding the border, unexpected variables in immigration procedures… . Now that I look back, I think, this may have been the most difficult hurdle during my coverage of Afghanistan.