Tourists are trickling into Afghanistan and the Taliban government is eager to welcome them

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — By plane, motorbike, camper van and even on bicycles, tourists are beginning to discover Afghanistan, with solo travelers 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 recognized 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 told The Associated Press in an early June interview. “Tourism brings many benefits to a country. We have considered those benefits and aim for our nation to take full advantage of them.”

Tourism is a vital, multi-billion-dollar industry for many countries.

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. “We are optimistic this sector will evolve into a large economy, bringing significant benefits. It plays an important role in strengthening our national economy.”

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.

The Taliban’s takeover from a U.S.-backed government in August 2021 stunned the world and sent thousands of Afghans fleeing. But with the insurgency over, the bloodshed from frequent bombings and suicide attacks all but ended too.

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.

While Western countries still advise against travel to Afghanistan, a drop in violence from the two decades of U.S.-led military presence is indisputable, as the government is keen to point out.

“Afghanistan has gone through many years of war and hardship. Now, we want tourists to come and see the true traditions and customs of Afghans, to understand Afghan life, creativity and resilience,” Jamal said, noting there was “comprehensive security across Afghanistan.”

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.

Some visitors say they contemplated the ethics, but ultimately wanted to see the situation for themselves.

French-Peruvian Illary Gomez said she and her British partner, James Liddiard, debated for about a year whether to drive through Afghanistan as part of their U.K.-to-Japan camper van journey.

“Some things didn’t feel morally right,” she said.

But once here, they said they found a warm, hospitable and welcoming people and beautiful landscapes. They didn’t feel their presence was any form of support for the Taliban.

By traveling, “you put money in the hands of the people, not the government,” Liddiard said.

The treatment of women is particularly sensitive for government officials. Jamal declined to comment on the subject beyond saying male and female visitors were welcome.

“Those who respect our laws and traditions have already come and can continue to come,” he said.

While most restrictions are strictly enforced on Afghan women, they are far more relaxed for foreigners. Although they must still wear a headscarf in public, foreign women are more likely to gain entry into some restricted areas such as parks and are rarely asked to cover their faces in public.

Opening the country to foreign visitors was also a way of building bridges, Jamal said.

“It is a great way to promote interaction between the people of different countries. It helps build international relations and is also beneficial for trade,” he told the AP. “When foreigners come here, Afghans also learn a lot from them. In addition to expanding commerce, tourism also helps foster mutual understanding, cultural exchange and strengthens talents as people learn from one another.”

A foreign traveler seeing the country with his own eyes “creates closeness, builds connections and fosters trust among people,” Jamal said. “They will respect each other’s culture and the distance between peoples will diminish.

“So this is not just economic development; it also brings spiritual and political benefits,” he said.

FILE.- Band-e-Amir National Park, with its stunning blue lakes and towering cliffs, is seen in Afghanistan's central Bamiyan province, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini,File)

FILE.- Women visit the Sakhi Shah-e Mardan Shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd,File)

Deputy Minister of Tourism Qudratullah Jamal speaks with the Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

FILE.- Villagers walk in the fields near the niche of the giant Buddha statue destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, Saturday, June 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd,File

LONDON (AP) — London police say the stabbing of two Jewish men has been declared a terrorist incident.

Metropolitan Police say they are investigating whether Wednesday's attack specifically targeted the Jewish community.

The force says the attack in the Golders Green area left two men, aged 34 and 76, hospitalized with knife wounds. A 45-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

LONDON (AP) — Two Jewish men were stabbed and injured in a London street on Wednesday, in what politicians and community leaders called the city's latest antisemitic attack. Police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder.

Counterterror police are investigating whether the stabbings in the Golders Green neighborhood are linked to recent arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in the British capital. This attack has not been declared an act of terrorism.

“Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

The security organization Shomrim said a suspect “was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public." It said the suspect was detained by Shomrim members before being arrested by police, who used a stun gun on him.

Surveillance camera footage showed a man beside a bus stop donning a kippah, or traditional skullcap, before a passerby with a knife lunges at him.

The Metropolitan Police said the victims, a man in his 30s and one in his 70s, were hospitalized in stable condition. The force said the suspect also tried to stab police officers, but none was injured.

Police said they are working to establish the suspect's nationality and background, and Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said “investigators are considering all possible motives.”

Arson attacks in recent weeks targeted Jewish sites in London, including a charity's ambulances in Golders Green and a synagogue a few miles (kilometers) away.

“It happens in Israel, but happening on our own doorstep, of course it’s shocking,” said Golders Green resident Moishe Grunfeld. “I have kids, I have grandchildren.”

Britain’s Jewish community is long-established but tiny as a percentage of the population, numbering about 300,000. The northwest London suburb of Golders Green is one of its epicenters, home to kosher restaurants, Jewish schools and several dozen synagogues, as well as large Asian and Middle Eastern communities.

“There must be absolutely no place for antisemitism in society,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.

No one was injured in the arson incidents. Several people, ranging in age from teens to people in their 40s, have been arrested and charged.

Counterterror officers are investigating whether the arson attacks were the work of Iranian proxies. The U.K. has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to conduct attacks on European soil targeting opposition media outlets and the Jewish community. Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service says more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots were disrupted in the year ending in October.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said Jews face a campaign of violence and intimidation and that words of condemnation are no longer sufficient.

“This must be a moment that demands meaningful action from every institution, every community, every leader and every decent person in our country. This is a hatred that we must face down together," he said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the world must “wake up” to a rising wave of anti-Jewish hatred.

“In one of the great capital cities of the West, it has become dangerous to openly walk the streets as a Jew,” Herzog posted on X. “This is an unacceptable situation.”

The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the U.K. has soared since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel and the subsequent Gaza war, according to the Community Security Trust. The group recorded 3,700 incidents in 2025, up from 1,662 in 2022.

In October 2025, an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur and stabbed one person to death. Another person died during the attack after being inadvertently shot by police.

A Police officer talks with two boys at the scene where two people were stabbed Wednesday April 29, 2026 in a London neighborhood with a large Jewish community and a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over what authorities called an antisemitic attack. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

Members of the Jewish community at the scene where two people were stabbed Wednesday April 29, 2026 in a London neighborhood with a large Jewish community and a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over what authorities called an antisemitic attack. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

A police officer at the scene where two people were stabbed Wednesday April 29, 2026 in a London neighborhood with a large Jewish community and a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over what authorities called an antisemitic attack. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

Police at the scene where two people were stabbed Wednesday April 29, 2026 in a London neighborhood with a large Jewish community and a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder over what authorities called an antisemitic attack. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

Police officers at the scene in Golders Green after two people were stabbed, in north-west London, Wednesday April 29, 2026. (Jamie Lashmar/PA via AP)

Police officers at the scene in Golders Green after two people were stabbed, in north-west London, Wednesday April 29, 2026. (Jamie Lashmar/PA via AP)