The Taliban want more foreign tourists to visit Afghanistan

Round 30 males are stuffed right into a Kabul lecture room, a part of the debut scholar cohort at a Taliban-run tourism coaching institute.

One scholar is a type. Any other is 17 and has disagree activity historical past.

They’re all males — Afghan ladies are prevented from finding out past 6th grade — they usually don’t know anything else about tourism or hospitality. However they’re all keen to advertise a special aspect of Afghanistan. And the Taliban are glad to support.

Afghanistan’s rulers are pariahs at the world degree, in large part as a result of their restrictions on girls and women. The financial system is suffering, infrastructure is beggarly, and poverty is rife.

And but, foreigners are visiting the rustic, inspired by way of the reduce in violence, higher aviation connections with hubs like Dubai, and the bragging rights that include vacationing in an bizarre vacation spot. The numbers aren’t profusion.

In 2021, there have been 691 international vacationers. In 2022, that determine rose to two,300. Extreme occasion, there have been 7,000.

Mohammad Saeed, the pinnacle of the Tourism Directorate in Kabul, stated the most important international customer marketplace is China as a result of its proximity and massive community. Afghanistan additionally has benefits over a few of its neighbors.

“They’ve instructed me they don’t need to journey to Pakistan as it’s unhealthy they usually get attacked. The Jap have stated this to me additionally,” Saeed said. “This is good for us.”

But there are disadvantages, too.

Visas are difficult and expensive to access. Many countries severed ties with Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power, and no country recognises them as the legitimate rulers of the country.

Afghan embassies either closed or suspended their operations. There’s an ongoing power struggle between Afghanistan’s embassies and consulates staffed by people from the former Western-backed administration, and those under the Taliban administration’s full control.

Saeed concedes there are obstacles for Afghan tourism to develop but said he was working with ministries to overcome them.

His ultimate aim is to have a visa on arrival for tourists, but that could be years away. There are problems with the road network, which is half-paved or non-existent in some parts of the country, and airlines largely avoid Afghan airspace.

The capital Kabul has the most international flights, but no Afghan airport has direct routes with major tourist markets like China, Europe, or India.

Despite the challenges, Saeed wants Afghanistan to become a tourism powerhouse, an ambition that appears to be backed by the Taliban’s top leaders.

“I have been sent to this department on the instructions of the elders (ministers). They must trust me because they’ve sent me to this important place.”

The students also have aspirations. The model, Ahmed Massoud Talash, wants to learn about Afghanistan’s picturesque spots for Instagram posts and its history for media appearances.

Business school graduate Samir Ahmadzai wants to open a hotel but thinks he should know more about tourism and hospitality first.

“They hear that Afghanistan is backwards, poverty and all about war,” said Ahmadzai. “We have 5,000 years of history. There should be a new page of Afghanistan.”

Classes include Afghan handicrafts and anthropology basics.

An unofficial subject is how to interact with foreign women and how their behavior or habits could clash with local customs and edicts. Examples might be women smoking or eating in public, to mixing freely with men who are not related to them by blood or marriage.

The Taliban have imposed a dress code for women and requirements for them to have a male guardian, or mahram, when they travel. Dining alone, traveling alone, and socializing with other women in public have become harder. With gyms closed to women and beauty salons banned, there are fewer places where they can meet outside the home.

In a sign that the country is preparing for more overseas visitors, the country’s only five-star hotel, the Serena, has reopened its women’s spa and salon for foreign females after a monthslong closure.

Foreigners must show their passport to access services. Women with “born in Afghanistan” on their ID are barred.

The restrictions on Afghan women and girls weigh on overseas travel companies, who say they try to focus on the positive aspect of cultural interactions by making donations, supporting local projects or only visiting family-run businesses.

Shane Horan, the founding father of Rocky Highway Advance, stated visiting Afghanistan will have to no longer be obvious as an endorsement of any specific executive or political regime.

“Ultimately, the goal should be to support responsible tourism practices that contribute positively to the local economy and foster mutual respect and understanding, while also remaining cognizant of the broader political context in Afghanistan.”

He stated there was once disagree enter from government about what excursion teams noticed or did, and that the corporate labored intently with a ladies’s rights group in Afghanistan. A proportion of the excursion value got into supporting this group’s methods, Horan added.

There aren’t any ladies on the Institute of Tourism & Lodge Control. The scholars don’t point out it. However an reliable on the Tourism Directorate does.

“It’s a heartbreaking situation,” stated the reliable, who wanted to stay nameless for concern of reprisals. “Even female family members ask if they can study here. But there was a change in policy with the change in government. The women who were studying before (the takeover) never came back. They never graduated.”