Women and girls in Afghanistan say that the Taliban are exploiting foreign tourists as a tool to normalize their rule. According to them, the Taliban’s double standards toward local and foreign women demonstrate that the group adheres to its own interpretation of religion only when it serves its interests. They further add that foreign women tourists, by taking photos and sharing them on social media, disregard the suffering, pain, and widespread deprivations faced by women in Afghanistan.
These women and girls told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the Taliban cannot conceal the bitter realities of women’s lives in the country with a few publicity stunts and images of foreign tourists. They say that deprivation from education, employment, recreation, and the daily social pressures has made their lives increasingly difficult.
Zula, a 23-year-old woman, spoke of her bitter experience and the Taliban’s insulting treatment of her family, stressing that the group cannot deceive the world into ignoring the harsh realities of Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan. She added, “The Taliban have deprived women and girls of their most basic rights. How can they show with one or two displays that the situation is normal, when everything is so clear?”
She recalled: “Some time ago, I went with my family to Paghman. We were sitting by the water and had prepared food to eat when Taliban members arrived. They harshly insulted my husband and his brothers, saying, ‘You are a Pashtun, how can you be so dishonorable to come on an outing with women?’ Their humiliation was so severe that we were forced to pack up everything and return home.”
Meanwhile, several women criticized the Taliban’s restrictions, saying that the group treats foreign women more leniently to project a positive image of themselves, while using suppression, systematic exclusion, and violence against women in Afghanistan. According to these women, this shows that the Taliban do not even believe in their own proclaimed values, prioritizing political interests over everything else.
Jalwa Nazeer (pseudonym), criticizing the Taliban’s double standards toward women of Afghanistan and foreign women, said: “This group stands respectfully before foreign women with their hands over their chests, while they show no value or respect for women from Afghanistan and their rights.”
Nazeer added that women and girls in Afghanistan are denied the right to study, education, and work by the Taliban, while foreign women tourists are granted opportunities for leisure and sightseeing so that the group can present a positive image of itself to the world. She said: “Foreign women tourists and YouTubers who come to Afghanistan normalize the Taliban’s atmosphere of fear and intimidation, ignore their widespread crimes—especially crimes against humanity—and in reality, support the Taliban’s atrocities.”
She continued: “When we in Afghanistan are deprived of our most basic rights, yet a foreign tourist can walk freely in the city, and a woman from Qatar can stand at the forefront of aid while Taliban leaders walk beside her shoulder to shoulder, this is nothing but an attempt to legitimize the Taliban and normalize silence in the face of their crimes.”
Nazeer further said: “The Taliban’s harsh restrictions, from movement to social relations, have affected our lives, and now the only thing left is for them to say we should not breathe.”
Mastoora Alemi (pseudonym) said that before the Taliban’s takeover, she worked as a defense lawyer in Parwan province, but due to the Taliban’s strict restrictions, she is now forced to stay at home without the right to work. She added that these restrictions have put her under immense financial pressure.
Alemi said: “It is deeply disheartening that foreign women tourists with their dress and appearance—even one of them, who I believe was a porn film actress—can travel to Afghanistan without any problem, receive protection, and not face harassment, while Afghan women who have adjusted to the Taliban’s strict rules are still deprived of the right to work and study.”
Women and girls in the country say that foreign women tourists, by portraying a distorted and unrealistic picture of Afghanistan, ignore the gender apartheid and, in effect, help reinforce the Taliban’s crimes. They claim that these tourists, for their own enjoyment, even comply with the Taliban’s directives prohibiting the publication of images and reports contrary to the group’s policies, and only present a version of Afghanistan aligned with Taliban preferences.
These women said that the Taliban allow images, voices, and even public dances of foreign women tourists to be freely broadcast, while in Afghanistan, they label women’s voices as “awrah” (shameful) and cut off female journalists’ voices during press conferences. According to them, the Taliban are exploiting the presence of foreign tourists to whitewash their misogynistic image, while inside the country, particularly in provinces like Kandahar and Panjshir, women are not even permitted to travel without a chadari or burqa.
In the latest development, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced that, due to the ban on women’s work, it has closed eight of its service centers for returnees in Afghanistan.
These women raise their criticisms at a time when, most recently, a male and female foreign tourist with the social media account “Kristijan Iličić” were seen dancing and celebrating in Band-e Amir, Bamyan, even though the Taliban have banned Afghan women and girls from entering this park.
They also pointed to the trip of Whitney Wright, an American pornstar who traveled to Afghanistan about six months ago, saying that the Taliban even deemed it necessary to ensure the security of porn stars to present a better image of themselves in the West, while inside the country, they do not refrain from committing any “crime” in their oppression of women. According to them, Taliban fighters not only take souvenir photos with foreign women tourists but also hand them their weapons to pose with.
This comes after Toyosi Osideinde, a 30-year-old British tourist, claimed during his trip to Afghanistan that he had a sexual relationship with an armed Taliban member. He described the experience by saying that the Taliban “was emotional and knew exactly what to do.” These remarks at the time provoked a wave of reactions from citizens of Afghanistan and faced widespread criticism on social media.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
