Puli Khumri

Puli Khumri is the capital of Baghlan province and its largest town. It lies on the Kunduz River in a valley north of the Hindu Kush, about 220 km by road from Kabul, close to where the main highway from the Salang Pass divides into branches for Kunduz and the north-east and for Samangan and Mazar-i Sharif. This position has made it a crossroads and a busy stopping place for traffic between the capital and the north. The town grew in the 20th century as an industrial centre, around a textile mill, nearby coal mines and a cement works, and its streets reflect that history: a main road lined with shops, workshops, fuel stations and eating houses, older industrial quarters, and residential districts spreading up the valley sides. The bazaar is busy with traders from the surrounding districts. Puli Khumri is not a place of grand monuments, but it is a practical base for the region. The Kushan temple site of Surkh Kotal lies nearby, the Andarab and Khost wa Fereng valleys are within reach, and the town gives a clear view of the working life of the north, from truck yards and markets to the river and the orchards on its banks.

Puli Khumri takes its name from a bridge over the Kunduz River, and for centuries the site was a crossing point on the routes between the Hindu Kush passes and the northern plains. The Kushan-period temple of Surkh Kotal stands on a hill nearby, and finds there and at Rabatak have made this stretch of the valley central to the study of ancient Bactria. The modern town is largely a creation of the 20th century. From the 1930s onward, a large textile mill, coal mining in the hills nearby and a cement works drew workers from across the country, and Puli Khumri grew from a small settlement into an industrial town. The opening of the Salang Tunnel in the 1960s put it on the main road between Kabul and the north, and it became the capital of Baghlan province. The town grew again in the early 21st century, and it was affected at times by fighting in the conflicts of recent decades.

Puli Khumri has drawn people from many parts of Afghanistan, and Dari, Pashto and Uzbek are all heard in its streets, with Dari the common language of the bazaar. Most residents are Sunni Muslims, and there are Ismaili and Shia communities in the town and nearby valleys; mosques and prayer houses are focal points in each neighbourhood. Buzkashi matches draw crowds in winter and around Nowruz, and wrestling and football are popular with young people. The tea houses along the main road are lively gathering places, where drivers, traders and townspeople meet over tea and news from the road. Weddings bring dambura music and songs from the mountain districts, and Nowruz is celebrated with family visits and picnics along the river and in the orchards outside town.

Puli Khumri sits in the valley of the Kunduz River, with bare, brown hills rising on both sides and higher mountains visible to the south. The river runs through the town, its banks lined with willows, poplars and small gardens, and irrigated fields and orchards fill the valley floor above and below the town. North of the town the valley opens towards the fertile plain around Baghlan town, with rice paddies, sugar beet and wheat. To the south, the road climbs past Doshi into the narrowing valleys towards the Salang, and the mountains close in. The surrounding hills turn green briefly in spring and are dry and dusty for much of the summer. Coal seams in the hills nearby have long been mined, and the scars of mining are visible in places along the valley.

As a highway town, Puli Khumri is full of eating houses serving travellers at all hours: kebab grilled over charcoal at the roadside, qabuli palaw with lamb, carrots and raisins, mantu, ashak, shorwa and bolani, with bread straight from the clay ovens. Truck drivers and passengers stop for tea and a meal on the journey between Kabul and the north, and the main road is lined with tea houses. The bazaar sells rice from the Baghlan plains, walnuts, mulberries and apples from the mountain valleys, and melons and grapes in summer. Dairy, including yoghurt, qurut and fresh cream, comes in from nearby villages. In winter, fried fish and jalebi are sold in the bazaar, as in many Afghan towns.

Puli Khumri is a working town rather than a crafts centre, and its bazaar is dominated by everyday goods: cloth, clothing, hardware, vehicle parts, household items and food. Among them are things made locally or in the surrounding valleys: hand-knitted woollen socks, gloves and caps from the mountain districts, embroidered caps and cushion covers, and blankets and quilts. Tailors make chapans and other traditional clothes to order, and blacksmiths and metalworkers produce tools, stoves and parts for local use. Carpets and kilims woven elsewhere in the north are sold in a few shops. The town's best-known products are industrial rather than handmade, notably cement and coal from the surrounding area.

Puli Khumri is most comfortable in spring, from April to early June, when the hills are briefly green and the orchards in blossom, and in autumn, in September and October, when the heat has passed and the fruit and rice harvests fill the markets. Summer is hot in the valley, with dusty afternoons in July and August. Winter, from December to February, is cold, with frost and some snow in the town, and heavy snow on the Salang to the south. For travellers on the road from Kabul, winter timing matters most: the Salang can close for hours or days in storms, and Puli Khumri fills with waiting traffic when it does. Nowruz in March is celebrated with buzkashi and picnics.

From Kabul, the highway runs north through Charikar, climbs over the Salang Pass through its tunnel, and descends through Khinjan and Doshi to Puli Khumri, about 220 km and usually four to five hours, longer in heavy traffic or snow. From Puli Khumri, the highway continues north to Baghlan town and Kunduz, about two hours away, and a second branch heads west through Samangan to Aybak and on to Mazar-i Sharif, about four hours. Shared taxis and buses on all these routes stop in or near the town centre. There is no airport at Puli Khumri, and travellers arrive by road. Road conditions and local circumstances change, so travellers should check current conditions before setting out.

Puli Khumri's hotels and guesthouses are concentrated along the main highway through town and around the bazaar, convenient for travellers arriving by road. Most cater to traders, drivers, officials and people breaking the journey between Kabul and the north, and rooms range from basic rooms with shared bathrooms to larger hotels with restaurants. Heating in winter and fans or cooling in summer vary, and electricity can be irregular, so it is worth checking a room before taking it. When the Salang is closed, rooms can fill quickly with stranded travellers. Tea houses on the highway outside town may offer floor space and blankets for a night, a traditional but very basic option.

The centre of Puli Khumri stretches along the main road and the river, and much of it can be walked. Zaranj rickshaws and shared taxis run up and down the main road and into the residential districts, and private taxis can be hired for trips around town or to nearby sites such as Surkh Kotal. Shared taxis and minibuses to Kunduz, Baghlan town, Doshi, Aybak and Mazar-i Sharif leave from stands along the highway, generally when full, and long-distance buses and shared cars to Kabul run throughout the day when the Salang is open. For the Andarab and other mountain valleys, a hired car with a driver is the most practical choice.