http://www.pactec.org/
You can see Faizabad wrapping around these mts., following the Kokcha River. This is the route of the Silk Road and the town has been the capital of the Badakhshan Province since the 17th century.
In the map below you will find it in the upper right hand corner near Tajikistan. As a result, most the the people are Tajiks. We flew first to Eshkashem, which is east of Fayzabad in the curve of the thumb. It is said that this mountainous 'thumb' was given to Afghanistan as a buffer between Russia and Britain who ruled the lands on either side. A woman doctor was on our plane, returning from Kabul to her family and work in the Wakhan. 12,000 people live in the Wakhan Corridor formed by the Panj River and the Wakhan tributary where they farm grain crops, potatoes, peas, etc. This doctor had a 7-hour ride by vehicle to get to her village! That is dedication. The Afghan Pamir are grazing lands, higher and roadless, where the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Pamir mountain ranges converge.
Trekking is possible with proper permits and preparations. I think much of Greg Mortenson's schools were built in this hard-to-reach area (Three Cups of Tea).
Checkered fields will turn to green soon as crops are planted. This area is also a main grower of opium.
Small villages were spotted high in the mountains and alongside the steep cliffs. Here we are at the Tajik border, dropping off the doctor and picking up an Afghan who works for Pactec in building and maintaining runways. There is one in process up the valley where the doctor works. We
noticed there were nice highways on the Tajik
side of the river....Russian influence?
Our flightpath took us over the 14,000 ft. range and into some turbulance....not enough to worry about. It was good to land in a sunny Kabul.
We missed 3 days of no running water and electricity here at the Team House....good thing we went 'up-country!'
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