KABUL – By airplane, motorcycle, camper van and even on bicycles, vacationers are starting to find Afghanistan, with solo vacationers and tour teams progressively venturing into a rustic that till just lately was wracked by struggle.
And the nation’s Taliban authorities, which seized power more than three years ago however has yet to be formally recognized by some other nation, is very happy to welcome them.
“The Afghan individuals are heat and welcoming and want to host vacationers from different international locations and interact with them,” Deputy Minister of Tourism Qudratullah Jamal instructed The Related Press in an early June interview. “Tourism brings many advantages to a rustic. We’ve got thought of these advantages and goal for our nation to take full benefit of them.”
A probably profitable business
Tourism is a crucial, multi-billion-dollar business for a lot of international locations.
Afghanistan’s isolation on the worldwide stage, largely due to the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls, has left a lot of its 41 million people mired in poverty. Because it struggles to draw overseas funding, the profitable potential of tourism is way from misplaced on the federal government.
“We’re at present incomes a substantial quantity of income from this business, and we’re hopeful it can develop much more sooner or later,” Jamal mentioned, noting cash spent by guests can attain extra layers of society than income from different industries. “We’re optimistic this sector will evolve into a big financial system, bringing vital advantages. It performs an vital position in strengthening our nationwide financial system.”
Trickle quite than a flood
Vacationer visas are fast and straightforward to acquire and flights from main transit hubs comparable to Dubai and Istanbul function a number of instances every week. The federal government has even arrange a training institute for males — and it is just for males — looking for jobs within the hospitality and tourism sector.
Whereas customer numbers are nonetheless very a lot a trickle quite than a flood, they’re growing. Practically 9,000 overseas vacationers visited Afghanistan final 12 months, whereas practically 3,000 individuals visited within the first three months of this 12 months, Jamal mentioned.
4 a long time of near-continuous battle saved practically all vacationers away from this landlocked nation of towering mountains, deep gorges and millennia of historical past.
The Taliban’s takeover from a U.S.-backed authorities in August 2021 stunned the world and despatched 1000’s of Afghans fleeing. However with the insurgency over, the bloodshed from frequent bombings and suicide assaults all however ended too.
Assaults nonetheless happen, nonetheless. An Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan stays lively and gunmen killed six individuals, together with three Spanish vacationers, in a May 2024 attack in Bamiyan, one of many nation’s essential vacationer points of interest the place centuries-old giant Buddhas carved into the cliffs have been blown up by the Taliban in 2001.
Whereas Western international locations nonetheless advise in opposition to journey to Afghanistan, a drop in violence from the 20 years of U.S.-led navy presence is indeniable, as the federal government is eager to level out.
“Afghanistan has gone by means of a few years of struggle and hardship. Now, we would like vacationers to come back and see the true traditions and customs of Afghans, to grasp Afghan life, creativity and resilience,” Jamal mentioned, noting there was “complete safety throughout Afghanistan.”
An moral dilemma
Critics query the ethics of foreigners visiting Afghanistan for pleasure when its authorities discriminates so closely in opposition to half the nation’s inhabitants.
Schooling past major college degree is banned for women and girls and few professions are open to them. Girls can’t enter parks, gardens or gyms.
Beauty salons are forbidden. Authorities dictate how girls gown and have demanded they cover their faces in public, a decree nonetheless flouted by many, notably in Kabul.
Some guests say they contemplated the ethics, however in the end needed to see the state of affairs for themselves.
French-Peruvian Illary Gomez mentioned she and her British accomplice, James Liddiard, debated for a couple of 12 months whether or not to drive by means of Afghanistan as a part of their U.Okay.-to-Japan camper van journey.
“Some issues didn’t really feel morally proper,” she mentioned.
However as soon as right here, they mentioned they discovered a heat, hospitable and welcoming individuals and delightful landscapes. They didn’t really feel their presence was any type of assist for the Taliban.
By touring, “you set cash within the fingers of the individuals, not the federal government,” Liddiard mentioned.
Constructing bridges
The treatment of women is especially delicate for presidency officers. Jamal declined to touch upon the topic past saying female and male guests have been welcome.
“Those that respect our legal guidelines and traditions have already come and might proceed to come back,” he mentioned.
Whereas most restrictions are strictly enforced on Afghan girls, they’re much more relaxed for foreigners. Though they have to nonetheless put on a scarf in public, overseas girls usually tend to achieve entry into some restricted areas comparable to parks and are hardly ever requested to cowl their faces in public.
Opening the nation to overseas guests was additionally a manner of constructing bridges, Jamal mentioned.
“It’s a good way to advertise interplay between the individuals of various international locations. It helps construct worldwide relations and can be useful for commerce,” he instructed the AP. “When foreigners come right here, Afghans additionally study so much from them. Along with increasing commerce, tourism additionally helps foster mutual understanding, cultural change and strengthens skills as individuals study from each other.”
A overseas traveler seeing the nation together with his personal eyes “creates closeness, builds connections and fosters belief amongst individuals,” Jamal mentioned. “They are going to respect one another’s tradition and the gap between peoples will diminish.
“So this isn’t simply financial growth; it additionally brings religious and political advantages,” he mentioned.
Copyright 2025 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
