Despite Taliban Threat, Afghanistan Manages to Entice Some Tourists

[WestVirginiaRebel]

New York Times:

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban have a message for foreign tourists who come to Afghanistan, especially if they are from any of the 50 countries that are part of the NATO-led coalition supporting the government: Big mistake.

“It is part of our war strategy to target any foreign citizen whose country has a military presence in Afghanistan and enters our country without permission from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the insurgents in northern and eastern Afghanistan, reached by telephone at an undisclosed location.

The American government has pretty much the same message. “No part of Afghanistan should be considered immune from violence,” says the United States State Department’s latest travel advisory. “There is an ongoing and increased risk of kidnapping and assassination of U.S. citizens,” it also says.

And yet some tourists do still come, though in what most officials say are ever-dwindling numbers.

Two of those who did were a newlywed couple, a pregnant American woman and her Canadian husband, who apparently arrived in Afghanistan in early October and disappeared by mid-October, reportedly kidnapped in an insurgent area. They were traveling partly on foot, staying in a tent and in local guesthouses, according to their family, and have not been heard from since.

Another two were a wealthy Russian couple, who hired an armored car and bodyguards at $1,500 a day, stayed in the $356-a-night Kabul Serena Hotel, toured the Panjshir Valley, and went home on schedule.

“Until 2005, we were driving tourists everywhere,” said Muqim Jamshady, the owner of Afghan Logistics and Tours, who says his company is the only one still catering to foreign visitors. “Now we are operating still, but very carefully.”

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Enter at your own risk...

[Valin]

Sad, particularly if you like mountains.