KABULBy plane, motorbike, camper van, and even on bicycles, tourists are starting to see Afghanistan. Both individual tourists and tour groups are progressively making their way into a nation that was devastated by war until recently.
They are also warmly welcomed by the Taliban government, which took over three years ago but has not yet received official recognition from any other country.
In an interview with The Associated Press in early June, Deputy Minister of Tourism Qudratullah Jamal said that the Afghan people are kind and want to interact with and host visitors from various nations. A nation benefits greatly from tourism. We have thought about those advantages and want our country to fully benefit from them.
An industry with the potential to be very profitable
For many nations, tourism is an essential, multibillion-dollar business.
Much of Afghanistan’s 41 million people live in poverty as a result of the country’s isolation on the global scene, which is mostly due to the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls. The government is well aware of the economic potential of tourism, even as it struggles to draw in foreign investment.
Noting that visitor spending can reach more societal strata than earnings from other industries, Jamal stated, “We are currently earning a considerable amount of revenue from this industry, and we are hopeful it will grow even more in the future.” We have high hopes that this industry will grow into a sizable economy with substantial advantages. It contributes significantly to the growth of our country’s economy.
A trickle as opposed to a flood
Flights from major transit hubs like Dubai and Istanbul operate multiple times a week, and obtaining a tourist visa is quick and simple. The government has even established a training center exclusively for guys looking for work in the hospitality and tourism industry.
The number of visitors is growing, although it is still more of a trickle than a torrent. According to Jamal, around 3,000 international visitors came to Afghanistan in the first three months of this year, compared to roughly 9,000 last year.
Nearly all tourists avoided this landlocked nation of tall mountains, deep gorges, and millennia of history due to forty years of almost constant conflict.
The world was shocked and thousands of Afghans fled when the Taliban overthrew a government supported by the United States in August 2021. However, the violence caused by regular bombs and suicide attacks also essentially stopped when the insurgency ended.
But attacks still happen. In a May 2024 incident in Bamiyan, one of the primary tourist destinations in Afghanistan, where the Taliban detonated centuries-old gigantic Buddhas carved into the cliffs in 2001, gunmen killed six people, including three Spanish tourists. The group is still affiliated with the Islamic State in Afghanistan.
Although Western nations continue to discourage travel to Afghanistan, the government is eager to emphasize that there has been an unquestionable decrease in bloodshed throughout the two decades of U.S.-led military presence.
Afghanistan has endured years of conflict and suffering. Noting that there was complete security throughout Afghanistan, Jamal stated, “We now want tourists to come and see the true traditions and customs of Afghans, to understand Afghan life, creativity, and resilience.”
A moral conundrum
Given how severely the Afghan government discriminates against half of its population, some question the morality of foreigners traveling to Afghanistan for leisure.
Girls and women are not allowed to continue their education past the elementary school level, and they have limited career options. Women are not allowed in gyms, parks, or gardens.
Beauty salons are prohibited. Many people, especially in Kabul, continue to disobey the authorities’ demands that women hide their faces when they are in public and dictate how they should dress.
Some tourists claim that after considering the morality, they decided to observe the scenario for themselves.
Illary Gomez, a French-Peruvian, said she and her British partner, James Liddiard, discussed for over a year whether to drive through Afghanistan as part of their camper van trip from the United Kingdom to Japan.
She claimed that some things didn’t seem morally correct.
However, they claimed to have discovered lovely scenery and friendly, welcoming people once they arrived. They did not perceive their presence as endorsing the Taliban in any way.
According to Liddiard, traveling puts money in the hands of the people rather than the government.
Constructing bridges
For government workers, the treatment of women is especially delicate. Jamal stated that both male and female guests were welcome, but he would not elaborate further.
According to him, those who uphold our laws and customs have already arrived and may do so in the future.
For Afghan women, the majority of restrictions are strictly enforced, but for foreigners, they are much less stringent. Foreign women are more likely to be allowed admission into some prohibited locations, such parks, and are rarely asked to hide their faces in public, even if they are still required to wear a headscarf.
“Building bridges also means opening the country to foreign visitors,” Jamal remarked.
It is an excellent means of encouraging communication amongst individuals from other nations. He told the AP that it is good for trade and for fostering international relations. Afghans learn a lot from international visitors as well. Along with increasing trade, tourism promotes understanding between people, cultural interaction, and the development of abilities as a result of mutual learning.
People become closer, form relationships, and develop trust when international visitors witness the nation firsthand, according to Jamal. The gap between peoples will close as they respect one another’s cultures.
According to him, this is not only about economic growth but also about spiritual and political advantages.
