Tourists trickling back into Afghanistan; Taliban eager to welcome them

By plane, motorbike, camper van and even on bicycles, tourists are beginning to discover Afghanistan, with solo travellers and tour groups gradually venturing into a country that until recently was wracked by war.

And the country’s Taliban government, which seized power more than three years ago but has yet to be formally recognised by any other nation, is more than happy to welcome them.

“The Afghan people are warm and welcoming and wish to host tourists from other countries and engage with them,” Deputy Minister of Tourism Qudratullah Jamal said in an early June interview.

Afghanistan’s isolation on the international stage, largely because of the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls, has left much of its 41 million people mired in poverty. As it struggles to attract foreign investment, the lucrative potential of tourism is far from lost on the government.

“We are currently earning a considerable amount of revenue from this industry, and we are hopeful it will grow even more in the future,” Jamal said, noting money spent by visitors can reach more layers of society than revenue from other industries.

Tourist visas are quick and easy to obtain and flights from major transit hubs such as Dubai and Istanbul operate several times a week. The government has even set up a training institute for men — and it is only for men — seeking jobs in the hospitality and tourism sector.

While visitor numbers are still very much a trickle rather than a flood, they are increasing. Nearly 9,000 foreign tourists visited Afghanistan last year, while nearly 3,000 people visited in the first three months of this year, Jamal said.

Four decades of near-continuous conflict kept nearly all vacationers away from this landlocked country of towering mountains, deep gorges and millennia of history.

Attacks still occur, however. An Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan remains active and gunmen killed six people, including three Spanish tourists, in a May 2024 attack in Bamiyan, one of the country’s main tourist attractions where centuries-old giant Buddhas carved into the cliffs were blown up by the Taliban in 2001.

Critics question the ethics of foreigners visiting Afghanistan for pleasure when its government discriminates so heavily against half the country’s population.

Education beyond primary school level is banned for girls and women and few professions are open to them. Women cannot enter parks, gardens or gyms.

Beauty salons are forbidden. Authorities dictate how women dress and have demanded they cover their faces in public, a decree still flouted by many, particularly in Kabul.