AFGHANISTAN: FIRST LOCAL TEAM CONQUERS AFGHANISTAN’S HIGHEST PEAK

EURASIA INSIGHT

Aunohita Mojumdar 7/21/09



It may not be a feat that matches walking on the moon, but a small group of Afghan villagers are nevertheless stoking national pride in their war-ravaged nation. The group has become the first local expedition to successfully scale Afghanistan’s tallest peak, the Noshaq, situated in the remote northeastern Badakhshan region.

Wakhis -- as the inhabitants of the valleys abutting Pakistan, Tajikistan and China are called -- had long dreamed of scaling the peak near their home villages. A group of local men finally planted the Afghan tricolor flag on the summit on July 19. With this feat, Malang, a cook by profession and Amruddin, a farmer, set an exciting example for others to emulate, as well as highlighted their country’s tourism and adventure travel potential.

Malang, speaking to EurasiaNet on a satellite phone from the base camp on the evening of July 20, said he was very happy to have made it to the top and "to become a part of the history of my country." The name of the expedition ’Afghans to the Top’ has exemplified not just this climb, but the lives of these ordinary Afghans who have achieved what was long thought impossible in a land which usually makes news only for its enduring conflict.

Noshaq is the second highest peak in the Hindu Kush range. At 7,492 meters (24,580 feet), it surpasses the highest mountains in both North America and Europe -- the 6,194-meter Mt. McKinley in Alaska (20,320 feet), and 5,642-meter Mt. Elbrus (18,510 feet) in the Caucasus range -- respectively. Even the third base camp, which two other Afghan team members -- Afiyat, a mason and Gurg Ali, a teacher -- also reached, sits at 6,902 meters.

The expedition began on July 2 in the village of Qazideh, close to the entrance of the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow finger of land that once provided a buffer zone between Tsarist Russia and British India. Its isolation made it a formidable boundary, surrounded as it was by the Hindu Kush, Pamir and Karakoram ranges.

Their journey began nearly two years ago. It was stoked by the Afghans’ hopes and the vision of a trio of young Frenchmen -- Louis Meunier, Jerome Veyret and Nicolas Fasquell -- living and working in Afghanistan.

The mountain ranges in the Wakhan Corridor have long been a draw for mountaineers. A Japanese team first reached the summit of the Noshaq in 1960. The relatively clear weather in the short summer season makes the area ideal for climbing, writes Italian mountaineer Carlo Alberto Pinelli in his book ’Peaks of Silver and Jade,’ which he authored in 2007 with a view to attracting climbers.

The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, starting in 1979, caused visitors to stay away. Few have ventured into the area since then. In the late 1990s, Badakhshan suffered during the Taliban era, as it was a stronghold of resistance to the rule of the militant Islamic movement.

Despite continuing conflict in other areas of post-Taliban Afghanistan, the Wakhan Corridor itself is considered stable and secure, and is easily accessible through Tajikistan.
But the area lacks infrastructure and suffers from widespread poverty. Its semiarid climate supports only subsistence agriculture and its topography makes access to health, education and markets difficult. For the four Wakhis on this expedition, mountaineering is not an indulgence. Their relationship with the mountains is much more elemental and they have not had the luxury of years of climbing or practice sessions with fancy equipment.

Over the past few years, the Wakhan has seen a steady stream of visitors, mainly internationals living and working in Afghanistan who have been lured by its beauty, its wilderness, and its virgin peaks. Wakhis hope more will come once this climbing achievement draws attention to the place.

Despite having been a part of the team that climbed Noshaq, Afiyat and Gurg Ali will not be taking part in the celebrations planned in Kabul. In early August they are scheduled to accompany a team of international climbers as guides, and, to them, such employment in the short summer season is impossible to pass up.

The Afghan members of the climbing team have known only hardship for most of their adult lives. Afiyat, for example, lost his father at a young age, forcing him to leave school and find work as a mason to support his mother and siblings. During the conflict against the Taliban, he joined the mujahideen, working for one of the commanders of the legendary Ahmed Shah Masood.

After 2001 and the removal of the Taliban, he trained and became a skilled master mason. What Afiyat dreamed of though, was his father’s tales of working with foreign visitors. When the Italian mountaineer and author Pinelli arrived in his village, looking to revive mountaineering among Afghans and train them as guides, Afiyat immediately signed up.

"When I first went climbing I had no idea that special shoes were needed, or how much mountaineering equipment cost," he said. His dream has always been to be among the first Afghans to scale the Noshaq and though he did not reach the summit, he is still part of the unique team.

Making the Afghan conquest of the Noshaq economically feasible were the Frenchmen, two of whom, Meunier and Veyret, joined the expedition. Before setting off, Meunier explained their rationale to EurasiaNet. "It is a symbolic expedition, to plant an Afghan flag as a symbol of hope and achievement for Afghanistan." The mission, he said, hopes to send a message of peace and illustrate "the determination of Afghans to overcome difficulties and bring peace and success to a country torn apart by 30 years of war."

From the base camp on July 20, Meunier said the expedition was getting ready for a party. "We feel Noshaq is the centre of the world. It feels like the first man on the moon."