Can you safely travel the silk route?

Question

Looking at Marco polo's silk route

Noticing it goes through Syria, Israel, and Afghanistan, I was wondering if there is the possibility to travel the silk road like Marco Polo, by avoiding war zones.

Answer 1

"Silk Road" is not the name of one road, but the name of a trade route. The exact course of the route has changed throughout the last millenia, there has always been many alternatives and the map you're posting shows only some of the roads actually used.

Marco Polo's route is pretty well known, but his land route does not seem to correspond well to the map you've posted. Marco Polo's route went through Afghanistan, so if you intend to follow exactly his route, it is of course impossible to avoid Afghanistan.

If you just want to follow any route, which could have been used for the Silk Road trade, it is relatively trivial to avoid Afghanistan and either go south through Pakistan or north through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Starting in Europe (Istanbul), you can continue through Iran and Pakistan and already be at the Pakistani-Chinese border.