Walking northwest from Pakistan, we arrived at the Pakahan border area in more than an hour...
This area is close to Afghanistan and is a veritable dangerous area. Not only is there the threat of war, but the mountains are steep and the roads are winding. There are military camps everywhere along the road. The commanding heights near the military camps are full of machine gun positions and artillery positions piled up with sandbags.
...The soldiers on guard duty on the roadside are also ready with guns and ammunition ready!
This surprised me... I thought before that there should be no troops on the border. Otherwise, how could the Afghan guerrillas with weapons come and go freely here?
Later I found out...these troops were actually guarding against the Soviets, not the Afghan guerrillas. What they were worried about was that the Soviets sometimes accidentally or intentionally chased the Afghan guerrillas across the border...Of course such a thing is very common.
It might happen, because everyone knows that if the Soviet Union wants to open a channel to the Arabian Sea, Pakistan is the best choice. Therefore, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan makes the Pakistani government very nervous. This is why the Pakistani government firmly supports the Afghan guerrillas.
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In order to avoid causing unnecessary trouble, we all covered ourselves with headscarves to prevent the Pakistani soldiers stationed at the border from recognizing us as Chinese... So we soon felt the vigilant eyes of the Pakistani soldiers towards us.
… They thought we were Afghan guerrillas, and many Afghan guerrillas were
Pakistan does not have a good reputation. As mentioned before, there are several Afghan guerrillas who were transformed from drug traffickers. They also cannot change their bad habits of serving as criminal annihilators in Pakistan. Therefore, Pakistani soldiers are naturally hostile to the Afghan guerrillas.
I don’t like them very much, just because we must help them based on national strategy.
To be honest... the change in the eyes of the Pakistani soldiers made us feel a sense of loss inexplicably. They were still full of respect for us before, but it was like this in the blink of an eye... although we knew it was because of our "
"Identity" is different, but I am a little uncomfortable with this change.
Hassan stepped forward and handed the sentry a pass...of course he needed a pass, otherwise no matter who he was he could pass through the border with weapons like us, and then the border would be in name only.
Then the railing in front of us slowly rose up... A group of us led the mules, and the donkeys continued to move forward.
The mountains here are all gray and black, and the roads are all dirt roads, with mountain walls on one side and cliffs on the other. Occasionally, a truck will drive by and kick up a thick layer of dust, which makes me complain endlessly while walking on the road. Then I
I saw a scene similar to the Qinghai-Tibet Highway...the road winds in a zigzag shape toward the top of the mountain, and then goes down from the top to the foot of the mountain...and continues forward over and over again.
Later, I learned that this is the famous "Khayper" pass, which is also the largest and most important pass in the Hindu Kush Mountains... This is the most important passage between South Asia, West Asia, and Central Asia, with a total length of 53 kilometers. The view in front of me
This road is the road connecting Peshawar to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It is said that Monk Tang used this road to study for Buddhist scriptures... and also walked to Tianzhu country through this road.
If the legend is true, then I believe that the Flame Mountain written in Journey to the West is in this area... Because when I walked into this mountain pass, I felt the heat wave rolling, like a fire burning next to me all the time, as if
It seems like everything around will burn if touched. This kind of heat is somewhat different from the heat we feel in China... There are also many hot places in China, such as Chongqing and Fuzhou, which are known as the four furnaces... I
I have been there frequently in modern times.
Although the four furnaces are hot, you can still feel the humidity in the air... The heat here is exactly that kind of dry heat. The surrounding air, loess and the hot wind blowing in the face are like greedy monsters working hard.
It brings heat to you and takes away the moisture from your body.
This gives people the feeling of being dried in a stove. Opening your mouth is like spitting out fire. The sweat will be dried quickly, and then continue to sweat, continue to dry, sweat again, and then dry again.
Dry...white sweat spots will soon appear on your clothes.
"Talk less!" Hassan said to me: "Try not to open your mouth and breathe more slowly... This can prevent water from evaporating!"
I couldn't help but smile bitterly when I heard this... Since I came to this world, I have lived a lot of hardships, but I have never spoken less or opened my mouth to avoid evaporation of water.
So everyone remained silent along the way...each led his mules and walked silently along the road.
However, this is not the worst part... We turned into a mountain road before walking for half an hour on the road... The Soviet army has controlled the main cities and roads, so of course this road can directly lead to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
No exception... The reason why we haven't encountered the Soviet army or the Afghan political ax army yet is simply because there are no troops stationed on each other a few kilometers close to the border.
The situation got even worse after we walked up the mountain road... The scorching heat and the difficulty of climbing the mountain road quickly made us sweat like rain, which made the soldiers reach for the kettle before climbing up for a while... But this action made Ha
Sang stopped: "You should save water and drink it... The next time there is water, it will be two days and two nights..."
"What? Two days and two nights?!" Only then did we notice that the mule only had a few water bags... There were hundreds of us, and we had to rely on the water in the kettle and these water bags for two days and two nights.
Night? Poor me... I was just wondering if I could take a bath at night!
When walking on such mountain roads, mules play a big role... On the one hand, mules are relatively small and are very suitable for walking on narrow mountain roads. If you lead a horse, you may not be able to get through many places.
I can't climb up anymore. On the other hand, mules have good endurance, less water intake, and strong climbing ability. They are very suitable for use as transportation vehicles in mountainous areas.
But not all mules have these advantages... It should be said that the mules in this area of Afghanistan are like this... In modern times, I heard a story. The Yankees were in urgent need of mule transportation on the Afghan battlefield, so they planned to airlift it.
A large number of mules went to Afghanistan to support the guerrillas. However, they were only airlifted once and then abandoned...
The reason is that American mules can't stand the environment in Afghanistan. Afghan mules have grown up in such an environment since they were young, and they have developed their skills in carrying heavy objects and walking on mountain roads since they were young. How can American mules?
Is it the same? He was led towards the mountain road... and he fell to the ground within a few seconds.
Therefore, the mules shipped from the United States can only be used by the guerrillas to fill their stomachs. (To be continued.)