Favourite picture: a tough mission in the Hindu Kush

In front of the tea house, the chaikhana, there is a row of trucks parked. They are all Mercedes-Benz trucks, and they all have sparkling, shiny chrome and plastic. Decorated like Christmas trees in the west. On some of them you can read the names of the companies that owned them in their former lives – every single firm is German. The love the Afghans have for the truck brand with the three-pointed star has a long history. Even before the Soviet army invaded at the end of 1979, most commercial fleets consisted of Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Shrewd beatniks.

It was the hippies who made Mercedes-Benz famous in the Hindu Kush: back in the 1960s they travelled overland to India and Nepal. Thousands of young people from all over the world journeyed to the subcontinent of gurus and monasteries, and many of them came by truck from Europe. The idea was simple and brilliant: in Germany, a second-hand Mercedes-Benz truck cost about 1,000 dollars. In Nepal, with a good sales technique, you could sell it for over 5,000 dollars.

Traditions are cultivated.

Thanks to its geographic position between China, India and the Middle East, Afghanistan is located at the intersection of completely different cultures – and also at the crossroads of historic trading routes. In former times, camel caravans travelled along the Silk Road through this central Asian country. During the Soviet invasion and the reign of the Taliban, it was sealed off from the outside world. Gradually, its strategic and logistical significance is becoming obvious again, and increasing numbers of heavy convoys of brightly painted and decorated Mercedes-Benz articulated trucks travel along its rough roads.

Photos: Claude Barutel

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