<\/p>\n
The number of foreign tourists in Afghanistan rose by 120pc year-on-year in 2023.<\/p>\n
His soldier son toured Afghanistan with insurgents in his crosshairs, but American traveller Oscar Wells has a different objective \u2014 sightseeing promoted by the interim Taliban government\u2019s fledgling tourism sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a unique place, it touches my heart,\u201d the 65-year-old Indiana farmer told AFP<\/em>, praising \u201cits magnificent mountains\u201d with \u201cpeople living in the old way\u201d.<\/p>\n Marvelling at the 15th century Blue Mosque in northern Mazar-i-Sharif, Wells is among a small but rising number of travellers coming to Afghanistan since the war\u2019s end<\/a>.<\/p>\n Decades of conflict made tourism extremely rare, and while most violence has now abated, visitors are confronted with extreme poverty, dilapidated cultural sites and scant hospitality infrastructure.<\/p>\n They holiday under the austere control of Taliban authorities, without consular support after most embassies were evacuated following the fall of the Western-backed government<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n They must register with officials on arrival in each province, comply with a strict dress code and submit to searches at checkpoints manned by men armed with Kalashnikovs.<\/p>\n Attacks by the militant Islamic State group also still pose a potential threat within the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing your loved ones say is: \u2018You\u2019re crazy to go there!\u2019,\u201d said French tourist Didier Goudant, a 57-year-old lawyer, of a country that Western governments warn against visiting.<\/p>\n Security concerns worried Nayuree Chainton, a 45-year-old Thai owner of a travel agency in Bangkok who recently took a six-day trip with a group to test the waters.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel safe despite the checkpoints in the cities,\u201d she said during a visit to a shrine in the capital Kabul.<\/p>\n \u2018Sharing a good image\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n The number of foreign tourists visiting Afghanistan rose 120 per cent year-on-year in 2023, reaching nearly 5,200, according to official figures.<\/p>\n The Taliban government has yet to be officially recognised by any country \u2014 in part because of its heavy restrictions on women \u2014 but it has welcomed foreign tourism.<\/p>\n \u201cAfghanistan\u2019s enemies don\u2019t present the country in a good light,\u201d said Information and Culture Minister Khairullah Khairkhwa.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if these people come and see what it\u2019s really like\u2026 they will definitely share a good image of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But Wells and Goudant \u2014 on a trip with firm Untamed Borders<\/a>, which also offers tours of Syria and Somalia \u2014 describe their visit as a way to connect with Afghanistan\u2019s people.<\/p>\n Tourists \u201clike us are curious and want to be in contact with the population, to try to help them a little\u201d said Goudant, on his second trip, which included skiing in central Bamiyan province.<\/p>\n He said part of his visits is making donations to local groups, something he describes as \u201csmall-scale humanitarian work\u201d in a country that has seen foreign aid drastically shrink<\/a> since the Taliban takeover.<\/p>\n For Wells, there is a \u201csense of guilt for the departure<\/a>\u201d of US troops. \u201cI really felt we had a horrible exit, it created such a vacuum and disaster,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s good to help these people and keep relations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Bittersweet\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Untamed Borders brought around 100 tourists to Afghanistan last year, with a nine-day package starting in Pakistan costing $2,850.<\/p>\n The end of the fighting means tourists \u201ccan do more things\u201d, said founder James Willcox. \u201cBut on the other hand it is disruptive,\u201d he added, noting a female tour guide with the company fled to Italy after the Taliban return.<\/p>\n While the Taliban government has shut girls and women out of education<\/a> and much of public life<\/a>, foreign women are granted greater freedoms.<\/p>\n For solo traveller Stefanie Meier, a 53-year-old American who spent a month travelling from Kabul to Kandahar via Bamiyan and Herat in the west, it was a \u201cbittersweet experience\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been able to meet people I never thought I would meet, who told me about their life,\u201d she said, adding that she didn\u2019t face any issues as a woman on her own.<\/p>\n She experienced \u201cdisbelief that people have to live like this\u201d, she added. \u201cThe poverty, there are no jobs, women not being able to go to school, no future for them\u201d.<\/p>\n With little by way of official information, tourists band together on social media and messaging apps to trade tips.<\/p>\n While two airlines serve Afghanistan\u2019s major cities, backpackers prefer buses and don\u2019t shy away from the 20-hour journey from Kabul to Herat.<\/p>\n An active WhatsApp group named Afghanistan Travel Experience brings together over 600 people from places as far-flung as Mexico, India and Italy, who are already in the country or on their way out.<\/p>\n They pepper the group with questions, such as one from user Alberto asking if it is \u201charam\u201d (forbidden) to travel with a dog, or if it\u2019s a problem to have visible tattoos. Another named Soo, asked: \u201cIs there a co-working space in Mazar \u201c?<\/p>\n Header image: In this picture taken on March 25, Thai tourists pose for a group picture during their visit to the Kart-e-Sakhi Shrine in Kabul. \u2014 AFP<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The number of foreign tourists in Afghanistan rose by 120pc year-on-year in 2023. His soldier son toured Afghanistan with insurgents in his crosshairs, but American traveller Oscar Wells has a different objective \u2014 sightseeing promoted by the interim Taliban government\u2019s fledgling tourism sector. \u201cIt is a unique place, it touches my heart,\u201d the 65-year-old Indiana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/03\/29141109f68d41d.jpg?r=141646","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t