4AM I woke already and then checked out the main branch of Azizi Bank at 6:45AM. They weren't open yet so I returned at 7:45AM. I confirmed the location of the Azizi Bank ATM that Ahmad Mubariz gave me with them. It checked out.
8:15AM I took a calculated risk by going to the bank first. It went well as I was able to get my ATM card back in just a minute. I borrowed someone's phone to call officer Unger and he told me to call him in an hour at 9:30AM. I took another taxi to the airport where I found the Interpol on the second floor of the domestic side of the airport.
9AM I spoke to Arian's boss at the Interpol, who stated that he was going to send over the passport to the NCB and it would be sorted out there.
10:30AM I got to the Ministry of Interior through much security again. It as layers after layers of one person isle pathways to the center. I finally got right in front of the head of NCB. I then talked to his boss, who confirmed that they will relinquish the passport to the US representative.
11AM The representative finally showed up to rescue. He took it away to punch holes onto the profile picture page. I had my passport back, albeit now invalid. I was taken to an armed vehicle and the representative facilitated the whole process to get me out of Afghanistan. He even called to make sure there would be a seat on the 12:40PM flight for me.
12:15PM We arrived at the airport. I had to pay big bucks, 375 USD, for this flight. I had no better choice. The Interpol guys were still trying to get me into trouble but the representative called them off for me.
1:30PM My 12:40PM flight was delayed. We took off just around 2PM. I opted to go to Lahore first as I felt it was a more important location.
3PM An Afghani let me ride in his taxi to the bus terminal and we bought a ticket for Lahore. The ride actually took much longer and we arrived at 9:30PM. I took an Uber to Al Noor Hotel, which happened to be mislabeled on Google. It ended up being a street restaurant. I found a close hotel and haggled down to 19 USD or 3000 PKR.
8:15AM I took a calculated risk by going to the bank first. It went well as I was able to get my ATM card back in just a minute. I borrowed someone's phone to call officer Unger and he told me to call him in an hour at 9:30AM. I took another taxi to the airport where I found the Interpol on the second floor of the domestic side of the airport.
9AM I spoke to Arian's boss at the Interpol, who stated that he was going to send over the passport to the NCB and it would be sorted out there.
10:30AM I got to the Ministry of Interior through much security again. It as layers after layers of one person isle pathways to the center. I finally got right in front of the head of NCB. I then talked to his boss, who confirmed that they will relinquish the passport to the US representative.
11AM The representative finally showed up to rescue. He took it away to punch holes onto the profile picture page. I had my passport back, albeit now invalid. I was taken to an armed vehicle and the representative facilitated the whole process to get me out of Afghanistan. He even called to make sure there would be a seat on the 12:40PM flight for me.
Armored vehicle
12:15PM We arrived at the airport. I had to pay big bucks, 375 USD, for this flight. I had no better choice. The Interpol guys were still trying to get me into trouble but the representative called them off for me.
1:30PM My 12:40PM flight was delayed. We took off just around 2PM. I opted to go to Lahore first as I felt it was a more important location.
3PM An Afghani let me ride in his taxi to the bus terminal and we bought a ticket for Lahore. The ride actually took much longer and we arrived at 9:30PM. I took an Uber to Al Noor Hotel, which happened to be mislabeled on Google. It ended up being a street restaurant. I found a close hotel and haggled down to 19 USD or 3000 PKR.
Street near Al Noor Hotel
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