"Just north of Termez, where the Russians had built their bridgehead in to Afghanistan, we swung in to a sordid scrubland crossed by pylons and wasted canals. Beside us the Amu Dariya moved through a sliver of green, and Afghanistan lay flat and yellow in mist.”
- Colin Thubron, The Lost Heart of Asia

Until the middle of the 19th century, stretches of northern Afghanistan lay in sway to the Amir of Bukhara, and it would be a traveller's dream to complete a trip taking in Bukhara and Mazar-e Sharif, and the twin Timurid capitals of Samarkand and Herat. Unfortunately, the increasingly insular Uzbek authorities seem determined to keep this a dream for the foreseeable future with a highly restrictive border policy.

The Amu Darya river (or the Oxus, to give it its historic name) forms the border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. The only official border crossing is across the Friendship Bridge at Hairatan, which formed the main entry point for the invading Soviet army in 1979, and its ignominious exit point ten years later. Special permission is required to cross this border, essentially closing it to all but official traffic.

Paperwork
Despite the steady stream of commercial traffic, the border is closed to all foreigners except those on official business. Aid organisations must be registered with the UN in Termez as well as carrying valid Uzbek visas to be allowed to cross, and your details are put on a manifest for the border guards to check against. Ironically, the UN itself is not listed as a separate organisation, leading to occasional hassle for UN staff crossing here. The Uzbek embassy in Kabul only issues visas to those accredited to cross the border; the consulate in Mazar-e Sharif usually refers applications to Kabul. In comparison, Afghan visas are delightfully easy to obtain in Tashkent. For relevant embassy details, see Visas.

Borders
Assuming that your papers are in order, crossing the border is straightforward enough. The road from Hairatan leads quickly south 80km to Mazar-e Sharif. It is reasonably well-paved, but stretches are frequently covered by wind-blown sand dunes. In late 2004 there were threats made against foreigners travelling on this road. In Uzbekistan, buses run to Tashkent in around ten hours and Samarkand in eight hours, as well as an air service to the capital. While in Termez, don't miss the Mausoleum of al-Hakim al-Termezi just northwest of the town, overlooking the river and into Afghanistan. Hairatan is a major smuggling point for alcohol into Afghanistan - while some of this may be tacitly ignored by border guards on both sides, seizures increased greatly in 2004, and those crossing into Afghanistan here are advised against bringing in booze - or at least to hide it well in your vehicle.

Other information
Rumours persist about the introduction of an Ariana Afghan Airlines service to link Kabul to Tashkent (a proposed stop on the Kabul-Moscow service), but nothing ever seems to come of this. For those determined to visit both Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, the only realistic option is to travel via Tajikistan - see Getting in from Tajikistan for more details.

In a potentially positive development, at the start of 2005 the Trans-Afghan Corridor Council was set up in Taskhent, recommending construction of a 2400km highway linking the Uzbek capital to Bandar Abbas in Iran, via Mazar-e Sharif. An American consortium has also signed a protocol withthe Uzbek authorities to extend the railway from Termez to reach Mazar-e Sharif as part of the transport plan. Expect any fruits of this project to be a long time ripening on the vine.

The best available guide to Uzbekistan is Odyssey's Uzbekistan - The Golden Road to Samarkand (2004), followed by Lonely Planet's regional Central Asia guide (2004).