Travelling to Pakistan in January, advice or tips

The Afghan visa in Islamabad takes tow days.

Yes -- apply at the Afghan embassy in Islamabad in the morning, and pick up the passport the following afternoon. Go early on the first day to get a position in the queue, and expect to leave bags, parcels and phones at the security desk. The Afghan officials inside the embassy speak fluent English, but the guards outside and in the inner holding pen will speak little to no English. I suggest your wife covers her hair for the visit, and carries a scarf in Islamabad even if she doesn't always use it.

In 2009 the cost in Islamabad for a tourist visa for an Australian was USD 30, in 2012 it was USD 50, so it's likely to be more than that today. Take cash, and enough of a mix of notes to pay the exact amount as there is no cashier -- the consular officer puts the money into his pocket. You can easily buy US currency from money exchange offices in Islamabad but insist on clean notes -- most of those passed around in Pakistan end up covered with hand-written messages and stamp marks and are heavily creased.

Post any further questions regarding travel in Afghanistan in the Afghanistan branch.

The border Pakistan to Afghanistan is officially closed, however it's possible to arrange private transportation from Peshawar, with border crossing. Nothing is guarateed, but still it's possible. That's basically what AhsanH @4 said.

Hey,
That Polish couple is in a remote area near India-Nepal border and they rarely have internet facility. They told me they had made all the arrangements, had gotten an NOC from the governments and hired a private company to take them overland to Afghanistan but in the end, they decided to fly there. They said that they heard some conflicting news regarding the area and thus, felt a bit uncomfortable.
You can contact me anytime you want with any of your query and I would reply to the best of my knowledge.

Thanks for coming back with that update, @AhsanH. I think they made the correct choice to fly. The road between the border and Kabul via Jalalabad is not secure:

Jalalabad has been a repeated target for the Taliban in the past year. (BBC report, April 2015)

But it seems the Islamic State is also active in the area now.

• http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32363749

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