‘A remarkable development’: How Western tourism is on the rise in this controversial nation
With centuries of history, ancient archaeological sites, Islamic art and untouched landscapes, Afghanistan is attracting tourists – despite the Taliban regime and the UK government’s “do not travel” warnings.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the country formed part of the overland “hippy trail” route across Asia and welcomed hundreds of thousands of Western tourists. But as its complicated modern history unfolded, the steady stream of travellers stopped.
The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to Afghanistan, highlighting its “volatile” security situation and an “ongoing and high threat of terrorist attacks”. But some adventurous tourists aren’t letting this stop them.
Joan Torres, founder of blog and adventure travel company Against The Compass, told Sky News that he has seen a “big increase in demand” for tours of Afghanistan. In 2023, he ran three trips to the country and for 2024, this number has doubled.
“Syria and Iraq used to be our big sellers but given the situation in the Middle East, Afghanistan might become our most sold-out destination soon,” he said.
Untamed Borders, which specialises in trips to “some of the world’s most interesting and inaccessible places”, has also seen a rise in interest. It has been helping travellers visit Afghanistan since 2008.
The company’s tours paused in August 2021 as the Taliban seized power and since resuming in September 2022, founder James Wilcox told Sky News “quite a number of tourists” have made bookings.
While Afghanistan’s recent history is one of war and turmoil, Mr Wilcox said people who book with his company aren’t visiting because it’s a “dangerous and edgy” destination.
“They want to experience somewhere that’s culturally different, with different food and architecture,” he said. “One of the things that appeals when you to go to Afghanistan, is you don’t see life through the prism of tourism. There’s something much more authentic about it.”
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Since the Taliban has been in control, the situation for Western tourists is that “generally we can visit places we couldn’t visit before and the overall security situation has generally improved”, Mr Wilcox added.
The mausoleum of Ali in Mazar-e-Sharif, in the north of the country. Pic: Untamed Borders
His comment comes after a local official in Ghazni province – around 148km south of the capital Kabul – claimed “in a remarkable development” the region has “become a favoured destination for international tourists”.
Since the beginning of the year, 293 visitors from various countries have explored the province’s “natural attractions and ancient sites”, added Mullah Hamidullah Nisar, the head of information and culture in Ghazni.
Attractions in the province include a fort complete with 1,000-year-old towers.
While the Taliban regime has a well-documented history of oppressing women – and previously banned them from a national park saying “sightseeing is not a must for women” – Western female tourists are allowed to visit, and Untamed Borders runs mixed-gender tours.
“One thing that women [travellers] can often do is spend time with women in homes,” Mr Wilcox said. “But there are other things that women are not allowed to do and certain places they’re not allowed to visit.
“On a good day as a female traveller, you get to see all the things the guys can see and on a bad day, you get ignored by everyone.”
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Afghan women have urged the world to help them
Getting into Afghanistan, and obtaining permission to do so, has never been straightforward. Under Taliban rule, just a handful of embassies around the world have been able to issue visas and at all but one, you can only apply in person.
Tourists also need specialist insurance as regular providers do not cover travel to countries on the Foreign Office’s red list. They can then fly to Kabul via another hub in Asia, such as Dubai, or cross a border on foot.
The Minaret of Jam, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the mid-western province of Ghor. Pic: Kyodo via AP Images
For those who do jump through the necessary hoops and are willing to take the risk, unique sights, history and cultural experiences await.
“We take people to Bamiyan, which 1,500 years ago was the route between India and China,” Mr Wilcox said. “It was very cosmopolitan with very different ideas and religions. It was at the heart of Asian trade.”
Tourists can also visit the famous minaret of Jam, the cities of Herat, Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, and the site where two gigantic sixth-century Buddhas stood until the Taliban destroyed them in 2001.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
UN climate talks are “no longer fit for purpose” and should only be hosted by countries who are trying to give up fossil fuels, veterans of the process have said.
An open letter to the United Nations, signed by former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, made a dramatic intervention in the 29th COP climate summit, under way in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Frustration over petrostate hosts – following last year’s summit in UAE – as well as the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists, prohibitive costs, and slow progress have been mounting in recent years.
The letter acknowledges the strides COPs have made on ramping up climate policies.
“But it is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose,” the authors said.
“Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity.”
The letter’s 22 signatories also include former Ireland President Mary Robinson and Christiana Figueres, former head of the UN climate body (UNFCCC) that runs the annual COP summits.
It called for the process to be streamlined and for countries to be held accountable for their promises.
Sky News analysis has found only “marginal” progress has been made since the “historic” pledge from COP28 last year to transition away from fossil fuels.
Pic: AP Photo/Peter Dejong
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The letter also called for “strict eligibility criteria” for host countries to exclude those “who do not support the phase out/transition away from fossil energy”.
This year’s host country, petrostate Azerbaijan, has been engulfed in controversy.
Its authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev used his opening address to criticise western hypocrisy and praise oil and gas as a “gift” from God. His criticism of France, with whom relations have long been tense, drove the French minister to cancel a trip to the summit.
While the government and its COP team run separate operations, host countries are supposed to smooth over disagreements and find consensus between the almost 200 countries gathered.
COP presidencies are also nominating themselves to be climate leaders and throwing their own countries under the spotlight.
Azerbaijan is a small developing country that relies significantly on oil and gas revenues. But it has made slow progress on building out clean power – getting just 1.5% of its energy from clean sources – and led a harsh crackdown on critics in the run up to the COP.
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Azerbaijan team ‘optimistic’ about talks
In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, its lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev was unable to say whether Azerbaijan preferred to extract all its oil and gas or seek another, cleaner economic pathway – hard though that would be.
In a news conference yesterday, Mr Rafiyev said the president had been “quite clear” and he would not comment further.
“We have opened our doors to everybody,” he added.
Some diplomats here have hinted that Azerbaijan’s presidency team mean well but might be a little out of their depth. They have never been out in front at previous COPs, but they also only had a year to prepare for their turn hosting the mighty summit.
“My sense of this is that they’re a little underprepared, a little overwhelmed and a little bit short,” said one, speaking anonymously, as is customary for diplomats trying to maintain good relations.
“But I’m not sure that that’s politics. It might just be bandwidth and preparation and things like that.”
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Different regions in the world take turns to host a COP. This year it was up to Eastern Europe, but the selection process took longer than usual due to tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine and between Azerbaijan and rival Armenia.
Achim Steiner of the UN Development Programme, called it “troubling” that some countries face questions over their host roles.
“Are there countries that are by definition good hosts and others are bad hosts?” he asked.
“In the United Nations, we maintain the principle of every nation, first of all, should have a right to be heard.
“Labels are not always the fairest way of describing a nation. Some of the largest oil producers have hosted this COP in the past, and seemingly this seemed to be a perfectly acceptable phenomenon.”
COP stands for “conference of the parties” and refers to countries (“parties”) who have signed the underlying climate treaty.
Azerbaijan’s COP29 team and the UN’s climate body have been contacted with a request to comment.
World
Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to ‘smoke out’ thousands of illegal miners
A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.
The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa’s government said it would not help the illegal miners.
Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.
It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them [the miners] out”.
The move is part of the police’s “Close the Hole” operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out.
Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the mine around two months ago, with relatives of the miners seen in the area as the stand-off continues.
Relatives of miners and community members wait at the mine shaft. Pic: AP
A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.
It comes after South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, known in the country as zama zamas, because they are involved in a criminal act.
“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there,” Ms Ntshavheni said.
An aerial view of a mineshaft. Pic: AP
Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to “reinforce the government’s commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion”, according to a media advisory from the police.
In the last few weeks, over 1,000 miners have surfaced at various mines in South Africa’s North West province, where police have cut off supplies.
Many of the miners were reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.
Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.
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Relatives of miners and community members wait near the mine shaft. Pic: AP
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The illegal miners are often from neighbouring countries, and police say the illegal operations involve larger syndicates that employ the miners.
Their presence in closed mines has also created problems with nearby communities, which complain that the illegal miners commit crimes ranging from robberies to rape.
Illegal mining groups are known to be heavily armed and disputes between rival groups sometimes result in fatal confrontations.
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