From Kabul to Faizabad - 12th October 2011

At last the team are together, Amy Leslie and Zari.   

Security at Kabul airport is a farce. We were body searched and had all our bags opened but they never searched the cars and Leslie took her bag through unchecked. Boarded the UN flight and had a huge journey across Afghanistan. Flew over deserts and mountains on landscapes untouched by time. We sped on over stark ravines and sand smothered hills with tiny villages perched impossibly on the slopes in areas starved of colour, bleached by the drought.

First stop Mynamar, a city seemingly cut off from the outside world where Leslie spent 2 years setting up a women’s radio station. Then a long haul to Mazar, and on to Kunduz before our final stop in Faizabad. Too late to drive to Taloqan, we are staying in Faizabad , all sleeping in a room together with a pomegranate tree outside our window.