In an almost comically satirical portrayal of ditzy-brained influencers, content creators have been touring Afghanistan in a trend quickly becoming known as Taliban tourism.
Some influencers are not known for their, let’s say, common sense – and they’re constantly getting dragged about it. From just awful takes on living, to vaguely “racist” travel content, I’m starting to think that clueless influencers are one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Need more evidence? Take Taliban tourism, a rising trend in travel content that sees influencers travel to the war-torn country for sun, culture, and definitely no human rights issues.
Why are the Taliban inviting influencers to Afghanistan?
@arab Eating Street Food with the T-Bros
Since the Taliban – or “T-bros” as one influencer called them – regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, they have worked tirelessly to rehabilitate their image as one of openness and acceptance. Part of that has been getting Westerners inside Afghanistan once more, but it’s *definitely not* propaganda meant to detract from glaring human rights issues. Mohammad Saeed, the Taliban government’s Tourism Directorate boss, earlier shared his dreams of Afghanistan becoming a major tourist hotspot.
“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 also said. “Tourism brings many benefits to a country. We have considered those benefits and aim for our nation to take full advantage of them.”
Margaritta said she was ‘treated like a queen’ by the Taliban
@margarittasworld Replying to @shi #afghanistan #afghanistantravel #femaletraveler #femaletravel #worldtravel #worldtraveler #worldwide #kabul #dubai #bamyan #fyp #foryou
German travel influencer Margaritta was one such influencer to journey to Afghanistan in 2024, touring the admittedly gorgeous mountains and being “treated like a queen” by the very men notorious for their harsh treatment of women. Documenting her travels on TikTok, Margaritta’s page is more like marketing than an objective look into the country.
Another influencer, Liverpool native Zoe Stephens, told NBC News that “there’s a lot more nuance to it” than what we see on TV. Dozens of videos showed her mingling with Afghan women, claiming “the strength of the Afghan women is that they don’t have to just show it.”
“It might surprise you to hear that travelling Afghanistan as a woman is actually often safer than travelling as a man. Why? The things to watch out for in Afghanistan is not the government and what it controls; rather, what it can’t control,” she wrote in the caption of one video.
@margarittasworld I feel so ashamed for western bloggers and commenters sometimes. I try to travel respectfully. We asked the women if they’re okay. Send them gifts as a thank you for a posted photo. It’s the least. Do better westerners. Women are precious. #fyp #foryou #women #afghanistan #afg #afghan #afgirl #afgboy #kabul #bamiyan #herat #mazarsharif #afghantiktok #trendingtiktok #germantechno
Another influencer described the scenes as ‘raw’
Another influencer, Sascha Heeney from Brighton, claimed to the BBC that women in Afghanistan are “incredibly happy”, a far cry from what human rights organisations have said.
“It is just raw,” she said. “You don’t get much rawer than there. That can be attractive – if you want to see real life.”
But still, it gets even crazier from there. A tour company, Raza Afghanistan, produces hostage-style videos to appeal to a TikTok-addicted generation of travellers. The clips are deliberately set up to appear as the Taliban’s hostage videos that circulated on Twitter a few years ago, only this time the supposed hostages are in on the joke.
لماذا طلب الشباب الأفغاني خمسة مليون دولار مقابل إطلاق سراح الإيطاليين؟ #ترفيه pic.twitter.com/9rX2hHs95z
— أفغانستان بالعربي (@afghanarabc) July 12, 2025
Experts have slammed the ‘unethical’ trend
Videos of Taliban tourism are EVERYWHERE on TikTok, and while it does give us a look into a relatively secretive country, experts have slammed the influencers as projecting a warped version of Afghan life.
Dr Akbari, a postdoctoral researcher at Monash University in Australia, condemned the “unethical tourism” as lacking “political and social awareness.”
@mattshoetravel Thoughts about tourists going to Afghanistan @empiresgraveyard @talibjaana @teabropartyyy usa
travel travelling
“[Tourists think] it is just this backward part of the world, and they can do whatever they want – we don’t care,” she said.
“We just go and enjoy the landscape and get our views and our likes. And this hurts us a lot. My family – they have no male guardian – cannot travel from one district to another district. We are talking about 50 per cent of the population who have no rights… We are talking about a regime which has installed gender apartheid. And yes, there is a humanitarian crisis: I’m happy that tourists might go and buy something from a shop and it might help a local family, but what is the cost of it? It is normalising the Taliban regime.”
RUSI’s Orzala further noted how female Western influencers “roam freely, pose for photos and gain online fame,” privileges not afforded to the native female population. In fact, she argued they’re adding to the problem; funnelling money into the Taliban regime.
“This is not cultural exchange; it’s neocolonial tourism dressed up as adventure,” she said.
For more like this, like The Tab on Facebook.
Featured image credit: Raza Afghanistan/Twitter and Margaritta/TikTok
