Among the antiquities of the National Museum of Afghanistan, a seemingly ordinary tour group stood for an extraordinary reason: each member, including their guide, was a woman.
The gathering of all women, led by one of the pioneering guidelines of Afghanistan’s female tour, is a quiet but powerful challenge to impose the Taliban on girls and women.
Somaya Muniri, 24, visualizes this pioneering spirit. Unaware that there was a tour guide as a profession or even a concept, while seeking to improve his English language skills online, he came up with the idea and discovered CouchSurfing, a program designed to connect passengers to the local host.
“After hosting the traveler,” I was very passionate and it was very interesting to me, Muniri said. “” This was very unique. I’ve never heard about it before, so I said, “Why don’t we do it?”
He showed that the first visitor around his hometown in western Afghanistan, he saw a new side for his country.
“Most of the things we heard (about Afghanistan) were just … negative,” said Moni.
But for him, Afghanistan is much more subtle. While there is no doubt in the place that heals from decades of war and chaos, there is one side for the sophisticated and stunning country. His love for his homeland is deep and he is eager to share it. He hopes to gradually change people’s understanding.
Moni said in his eager English: “Whenever … I saw all those nature, all those beauties, all those positive, changed my view completely.” “And this can definitely be for other people.”
One of these visitors is Australian Susan Sandral. He initially wanted to see Afghanistan in the 1960s, but the pressures of having a family were eliminating him. Now at the age of 82, she was part of the Muniri women in Kabul.
Afghanistan surprised him.
“This is not what I was expecting at all,” he said while pausing. I was expecting to feel afraid. “Wherever you go on the streets, if you smile at someone and tie or say a little, you get a wonderful answer. So it’s very different.”
Jackie Beirov, a 35 -year -old traveler from Chicago, who was not part of the tour group, called the Afghan people “incredible hospitality”.
However, “I am very aware that I have more freedom than local women.”
Four decades of war have kept tourists away from Afghanistan. But while the Taliban’s conquest of the Taliban in August 2021 sent thousands of Afghans to flee and shock the world, the end of its uprising against the previous US -backed government was also a sharp decline.
Casual attacks are mainly carried out by an Islamic State affiliate, and Western countries recommend all traveling to Afghanistan. However, improved security is increasingly attracting foreign visitors who are deeply attracted by the landscapes, the millennium of history and the deeply hospitality culture.
Tourism is a novice industry and visitors are low in thousands of people annually. Most of them are independent adventure travelers. But packaged tours of countries are increasing as much as China, Greece, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The Afghan Taliban government is eager to welcome them. Separated in the international stage – officially known by Russia, which did so in July – the government sees that tourism can be potential.
Tourist visas are typically valid for a maximum of 30 days, obtaining a few embassies that export them are relatively simplified. Regular flights connect Kabul to main transit centers such as Dubai and Istanbul.
For some, the idea of visiting Afghanistan as a tourist is morally incompatible, especially given the government’s treatment of women.
Girls are banned from elementary school level and women live under countless restrictions. The government dictates what they can wear in public, where they can go and with whom they can go. They can’t walk in the parks or eat in restaurants. Beauty salons are forbidden. A very limited number of professions, such as carpet training and knitting, are open for them.
And the rules can change quickly.
But people involved in tourism refers to the positive effects that visiting Afghanistan can have.
“I really believe in moral tourism,” said Zo Stephenz, 31, the British Tour leader in Curio, a company at unusual destinations. “I believe you can divide politics and people, and that’s the main thing for me. … A country is not a matter of politics. This is much more, many of the culture, its history, its food, and especially in Afghanistan, its people.”
Two of the last three stages in Afghanistan were only women. In collaboration with local female guides, including Muniri, they combine key attractions by visiting women’s centers and cooking and embroidery classes from local women – worlds that are closed for male travelers.
“We always try to do a little different thing that really makes our tours unique, as well as something that goes back to society,” Stephen said. “So I felt that working with female tour guides would do both things well.”
These groups are small – one eight women, three others – but the company is looking to create a network of female guides throughout Afghanistan.
“What we are trying to do with this tour, especially the women’s tour, is to conquer ethical concerns,” said Stephen. “The idea is to learn about the life of Afghan women in the text.”
