The Places in Between

In The Places in Between (2004), a travel narrative, Rory Stewart describes his solo walk across northern central Afghanistan in 2002, during which he passes through some of the poorest parts of the country and harshest terrain. Upon its release, The Places in Between was met with critical acclaim. It was shortlisted for the 2004 Guardian First Book Award, and it won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize in 2005. In 2010, Stewart was elected a Conservative Party member of the British Parliament.

Stewart describes how the journey comes about. He had originally started walking from Iran to Nepal in 2000, but he couldn’t complete his journey because of Taliban occupation in Afghanistan. He completes the missing stint of the journey following the U.S. defeat of the Taliban. Stewart finds it hard to explain what drives him to make this journey in the first place, but he wants to know the country and its people in ways normally impossible for diplomats and outsiders.

Given the political climate in Afghanistan, The Places in Between cannot avoid political overtones. However, Stewart attempts to keep the political themes understated and focuses more on careful, nuanced observations. He refrains from making the book too personal, making it less a memoir and more a travel book.



Stewart makes it clear that the journey is only possible because of Islamic hospitality. The people he meets along the way, thanks to their local culture, go out of their way to be hospitable and offer Stewart what they can. This is particularly noticeable in the poorest areas, where the people are struggling to feed themselves, let alone outsiders, and yet, they still do their best.

When Stewart first sets out, he does his best to blend in, taking only minimal supplies and disguising his bag to look like something a local would use. He dresses appropriately and uses a homemade walking stick. His guides are equally ill-equipped, although they accompany him for a leg of the journey. Stewart must rely on his knowledge of local dialects and customs to stay safe and get the right information.

Stewart doesn’t gloss over the fact that many locals he meets omit details or lie to him, at least in part. However, this is purely from a safety point of view—these are people only just recovering from war, and who are terrified of outside consequences. They still don’t know whom they can trust, and Stewart is very accepting of this fact.



For the rest of his journey, Stewart acquires a canine travel companion, Babur. Babur is also the name of an Indian Emperor who walked across Afghanistan, so the name is apt. Babur keeps him company during his travels and is an ever-present character in the narrative.

Stewart uses individual portraits and accounts to give us an understanding of the society as a whole. He focuses on the countryside and its people, giving us access to parts of Afghanistan we couldn’t possibly experience otherwise. Stewart and Babur spend their nights with village headmen, who served on various sides during the Taliban period, offering us insight into their realities.

Stewart’s narrative reveals a people concerned about building their future and the practicalities of rebuilding Afghanistan after the Taliban rule. Much of their cultural heritage has been destroyed, but the people are determined to build better lives for themselves. Stewart comments on how he is made to feel a part of the community while he is there, and how, for the most part, he doesn’t feel a threat to his life other than from the elements.



Stewart describes the difficulty of unifying Afghanistan based on its group structures. There are no straightforward tribal areas or divisions, and everywhere the rural countryside is full of complicated relationships and rivalries. There are many who feel they can’t even walk into the neighboring village because they’ll be killed on sight. Stewart never says it outright, but it’s clear that the Afghan people may not want unification or national rule the way we understand it; they must find a solution that works for them.

Stewart doesn’t make many political comments, so when he does, they add value. When he reaches Kabul, at the end of his journey, he describes how this is the place where idealists try to shape the country and what he thinks of draft plans for a national government. Given the Afghanistan that Stewart travels through, he doesn’t need to say outright what he thinks of these plans and their likelihood of success.

The Places in Between is a subtle and nuanced travel narrative, which should appeal to anyone with an interest in travel writing and the area.