An idea...

I was thinking of one day spending the day in Afghanistan, flying into the capital Kabul arriving in the morning hiring a car and spending the day in the city, then flying back in the afternoon.

There a few questions though:
Is it actually possible to rent vehicles at the airport?
Is the situation in Kabul relatively stable?
Would anyone actually advise against this trip?

I suggest you contact or look up the advice from the Australian embassy - they have up to date information on tourist travel to any given destination. I am pretty sure it would not be advised and I am also sure that members of a gaming forum will not be able to give you that advice. (Except possibly Old Andy).

The Afghanistan embassy in Australia or the Australian embassy in Afghanistan?

@ Old Andy
Do you think I could possibly run from the airport to the city or take a taxi?

Edit: just looked at Google Earth, there appears to be an incredibly straight road from the airport to the city centre, maybe I could go for run along that road?

http://wikitravel.org/en/Kabul

I thought this page was actually kind of creepy, in that it only makes very small mention of the war...

Is there any reason in particular you want to go there, instead of other places?

Well, to go somewhere different to your typical holiday destinations.

@ Solid_Moose
You gotta admit that picture at the top of the page makes the place look picturesque...

There are far more stable countries in the Middle East you could visit, like Dubai or Turkey. Or if you're set on the third world like that you could visit East Africa, I can speak for Kenya. Hell I'd recommend Japan, you'll never leave there without a non-typical story.

Just popping into Afghanistan for a day and then leaving seems a little suspicious to me too. I mean if I was some kind of security investigator profiler guy, I'd take notice of that.

Firstly No area of Afganistan is safe at all!,If you are australian male and alone you will be followed watched and possibly kidnapped the people there think australians are no different than than british.I would advise staying in area's patrolled regulary by Coalition soldiers and hire a private contractor if possible as a body guard.

Yeah, but surely spending less than 12 hours in a country can't be that dangerous, if but a little suspicious. And no one is going to know I'm Australian until I open my mouth and how are any Taliban rebels going to know I'll be visiting they're country. I'll most likely be staying low during my time there...

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

[I hope that isn't too political, it's hard to tell what is and isn't going to be crossing the line in a thread like this]

And then you realise that it's basically a desert, a run down city in an occupied country, and that mountain is just a big rock with snow on the top, sparsely covered with tussock and rubble.

It's OK. General mentions of political matters are fine, obviously the rules are there to stop threads going into full scale discussions on restricted topics.

First off, Camberra gives off this as a travel advisory

http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Afghanistan

the first two entries are pertinent me thinks...



The thing being, Australia has troops on the ground, and that makes you a target from the moment you would touch down (and yes, they would know you're Australian because it's on the flight manifest which isn't secure, everyone can get at it, it's a joke really... Even just flying in there is another thing. No commercial flights leaving from Sydney mate..)

So ISAF has a vested intest in keeping civvies outta there. The only western peeps there are either ISAF, Red Cross/Medicine sans frontiers, PSC employee's, dope dealers, gun runners and heroin addicts.

edit: A few NGO and UN people running around as well.

Dude, goto Bali, soke up some rays, enjoy the beach life, have a drink with a little umbrella in it, served in a coconut...
Even Bagdad is safer I think these days.. and I wouldn't advise going ther either.

Tehran would probably be better. But going for one day is not a holiday. Two weeks minimum, I say.

well, ive heard of some travel agencies that use ex military so they can take you to the safer places since, you know, its a [censored] war-zone. But are you sure you want to go to afghanistan?

an considering that past year with what is going on, i would only really mention turkey or israel. I would recommend lebanon but my family that goes over there to visit other family members have stopped going because of its instability. IF your dead-set on getting that middle eastern flare, then morocco should suffice.

I advise against it fully. Too dangerous. Unless you're going to see a significant other, where the risk would be worth it.. Furthermore, it would be wise to heed the warnings of those who have been over there, or who have fought there.

yes. talk to someone who has been there. they will tell you how it really is. i have talked to some (blackwater and military) and i would never go.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say, no.

Unless you like dying.

You don't know much about the middle east do you?

What has that got to do with me not knowing much about the middle east?

I hear there is a region in the north that is better for tourism, or am I wrong...

Well, long straight roads are one of the things you want to avoid.

I really don't understand why you want to go there. It's one thing if you wanted to go to one of the more war torn areas and see what it's like for yourself, but you're treating this like it'll be some sort of vacation.

No kidding, hell of a sniper target. Long lonely road, and he's running down it? Ha ha... no questions asked.

Edit
That's if your lucky. They might still want to kidnap you just to mess up your day even worse.

Can tell he's in his mid teens, hey?

Hell I was reluctant to walk along one of those things in Egypt, and Egypt is much, much safer than anywhere in Afghanistan.


Now I think of it, I felt safer in Egypt than I did in the USA...