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Coming down the Salang Pass escorting a truck with 4 tonnes of medical supplies for the Save the Children UK clinics. The medical supplies had been flown to Bagram airbase, Mazar airport being considered too unsafe for the cargo aircraft. As a result I had to travel through the Salang Pass and Tunnel and arrange to hire a truck in Bagram to carry the medical supplies back. During the trip back we encountered bandits operating a checkpoint with a machine gun on the road, but seeing the communications antenna on the car they ignored us. Subsequently we parked 2 km further up the road and stopped oncoming cars until a pick-up with militia came by. We informed them that there was a bandit checkpoint ahead and they said 'we'll deal with it' and off they sped. Then another pick-up came along with more militia, this time armed with RPG rocket launchers, they said 'we'll deal with it' and off they went. Then a truck with twin 20mm anti-aircraft cannons on it came along, they said 'we'll deal with it' and headed off. At this point I called our office and told them that the problem was solved and continued the journey!

Photographs © Tony Taylor

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