Interestingly, in a similar situation, my mom bought an Anglia panel truck
from a couple of American fellows back in the early 70s. They had used it to
drive across Afghanistan and other neighbouring countries. They were, OTOH,
ex-Green Berets, and were also looking to smuggle hash oil... not exactly
your typical extreme tourist. Then again, who knows? Maybe that's what most
tourists are about, in driving through such places. Looking for the
unofficial gross national product made by poppies. :s

W.

On 10/6/07, Joy Hecht <hecht.joy@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Saw this recently on some listserv that someone put me on - more details
> here:  http://www.travelindustryreview.com/news/6407
>
>
>
> "As the number of kidnappings increases, as Afghanistan is returning to
> the
> worst days of its recent history, France's super-spies are having to
> concern
> themselves with "extreme tourists."
>
> France's intelligence services are not back yet: in April a French couple
> and their three children, all aged under 10, crossed Afghanistan in a
> Volkswagen combi. The happy family wanted to reach Uzbekistan, having set
> off from the Pakistani city of Peshawar. In a country immersed in
> instability, as again shown by the attack in which a French soldier was
> killed 10 days ago, their journey was enough to cause serious anxiety to
> any
> police force. And this tragicomic anecdote is sadly far from an
> exception."
>
>
>
>
> Joy
>