This is followed by the communal sheepskin-drum and salang dances, led by the shibi.

UNESCO: Culture

On one occasion, I visited the front lines in the savagely harsh Salang Pass through the Hindu Kush Mountains.

BBC: Afghan fighters' shifting loyalties

If a piece of kit belongs to the U.S. military, and it is anywhere north of Salang, it will likely end up at Camp John Pratt before it is packed up and shipped home.

WSJ: U.S. Sets Stage for Exodus from Afghanistan

"You've really got one way through it that's the Salang Tunnel, " he said, referring to the treacherous, high-altitude truck route that passes through a long, decrepit tunnel that has seen little maintenance since Soviet engineers built it in the early 1960s.

WSJ: U.S. Sets Stage for Exodus from Afghanistan