Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "486500791",
    "label": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, Afghanistan, Situation Report 32",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486500791"
}

{
    "id": "486500791",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486500791",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Report, Central Intelligence Agency, Afghanistan, Situation Report 32",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486500791",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Intelligence Files"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875513/875513-01-001.tif",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875513/875513-01-001.tif",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875513/875513-01-001.tif",
    "imageCount": 71,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486500791",
    "naId": 486500791,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 21,
            "logicalDate": "1948-10-21",
            "month": 10,
            "year": 1948
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 44,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875513/875513-01-044.tif",
    "mediaId": "2171474582d8b234",
    "ocrText": "The first stage of the \"great circle route,\" the North Road from Kabul to Mazar-i-\nSharif (390 miles), although a well-traveled road offers considerable difficulty at all\ntimes because of the high and rugged terrain of the Hindu Kush which it crosses be-\ntween Charikar (40 miles out of Kabul) and Doshi (215 miles out of Kabul). Between\nKabul and Charikar there are no problems. Beyond Charikar narrow gorges, deep\nvalleys, steep grades, sharp turns, repeated crossings of the Surkhab and Kunduz\nRivers on narrow bridges, and high passes (Shibar Pass: 9,800 feet) characterize the\nroute into Doshi. This road will accomodate only one-way traffic for long stretches\nand only a limited amount at any given time; it could be blocked in innumerable places\nwith little effort. Leaving Doshi the road follows the Kunduz River and gradually\ndescends through foothills to Pul-i-Khumri (245 miles). At this point a connecting\nroad, following the Kunduz River valley, takes off to Kunduz, Khanabad, and Faizabad.\nThe main road, after crossing the Kunduz River at Pul-i-Khumri, reaches Haibak in\nthe Ghori plain and continues in open steppe and plateau country to Tashkurghan.\nFrom here open plains extend westward to Mazar-i-Sharif, and the road is generally\ngood.\nAn important route to the USSR is the 35-mile stretch to the north of Mazar-i-\nSharif ending at Tash Guzar (Pata Kesar) where a ferry connects with Termez, USSR.\nThe last six to ten miles, over loose-drifting sand dunes, are not considered traversable\nby motor. At Termez the Oxus River is 600. yards wide in summer, 400 yards in winter.\nThe second stage of the \"great circle route,\" Mazar-i-Sharif westward to Herat\n(approximately 500 miles), offers considerable difficulties to motor traffic. However,\nit is the only important route into northwest Afghanistan and will increase in import-\nance if Afghanistan's petroleum resources are developed. The road between Mazar-i-\nSharif and Andkhui (130 miles) proceeds over gently rolling plains where the chief\nobstacles to traffic are the many canals and irrigation ditches. As Andkhui is ap-\nproached, soft, shifting sands are a considerable handicap to traffic. The entire dis-\ntance becomes difficult in wet weather owing to poor drainage and inadequate surfac-\ning. On leaving Andkhui, the road turns southward, traverses sand dunes, and follows\nthe fertile Maimana River valley to Maimana (85 miles from Andkhui), located in\na\nplain surrounded by hills.\nThe route from Maimana to Herat, a distance of nearly 300 miles, is actually a\npack-trail improved to accommodate motor traffic. Like the North Road out of Kabul,\nthis route crosses the central mountain range. It follows long narrow valleys, traverses\nmany minor and major passes (Sazak Pass; 7,950 feet, 70 miles northeast of Herat),\nand steep defiles. The road has sharp turns, widths of less than nine feet, grades of\nnearly 20 percent, and bridges which will take only light traffic. Snow may block the\nroad for days at a time during winter.\nFrom Herat, the largest city of western Afghanistan, an important 80-mile improved\nroad, which handles most of the commercial exchange between the USSR and Afghanis-\ntan, runs to the Soviet border at Kushk Post. The first fifty miles of the road are\nthrough rugged terrain with a maximum elevation of 5,000 feet; as the frontier is ap-\nproached, the route traverses stretches of sand along the Kushk River.\nECRE\n44"
}