Women Tour Guides Under the Taliban; Afghan Women Accompany Foreign Tourists Amid Bans

Image © Associated Press – Ebrahim Noroozi

In a country where the Taliban have imposed the harshest restrictions on women’s lives, some Afghan women are striving to open a new window of hope and resistance by organizing women-only tourism tours.

According to the Associated Press, Somaya Moniri, one of Afghanistan’s female tour guides, accompanies groups of female foreign tourists in various Afghan cities despite the Taliban’s severe repression of women’s public presence.

Somaya Moniry is a 24-year-old woman who entered the world of tour guiding through self-learning. She became familiar with the concept of travel and connecting with tourists via a mobile app, an experience that opened a new path in her life and made her one of the few female tour guides in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Moniri said, “We’ve always heard only the bad things about Afghanistan. The media, headlines, and people’s words have all focused on the problems. But Afghanistan does not have just one face. When I saw all that beauty, the nature, and the kindness of my people, my perspective completely changed. I believe if others come, they will feel the same.”

Her tours are exclusively for women, who visit the National Museum of Afghanistan, sewing workshops, and women’s cultural centers. According to the organizers, the goal of these tours is not only to show a different image of Afghanistan but also to support Afghan women and amplify their voices.

One of the female tourists, Susan Sandral, 82, from Australia, spoke about her unique experience in Kabul and emphasized that, contrary to expectations, she was welcomed by Afghans with kindness and smiles. Meanwhile, Jackie Bieroth, another tourist from Chicago, while praising Afghan hospitality, said, “I am fully aware that I have far more freedom than local women.”

While the Taliban are trying to use the budding tourism industry as a source of income, women’s fundamental rights in the country remain severely restricted. Girls are barred from secondary and higher education, women are not allowed to work, travel, or move freely without a male guardian. Restaurants, parks, and beauty salons are closed to them, and virtually no area of women’s daily life is safe from the Taliban’s ideological control.

In this environment, female tour guides like Somaya not only offer cultural services but also represent a form of quiet resistance; resistance against the systematic erasure of women from public spaces.

Zoe Stephens, a manager at the British company “Koryo Tours,” which collaborates with female guides in Afghanistan, says the goal of organizing women-only tours is “to show the reality of Afghan women’s lives up close.” According to her, the tours include visits to women’s centers, cooking and embroidery classes with local women; areas that foreign men typically cannot access.

As the Taliban seek to push women to the margins through controlling education, media, dress, and mobility, the presence of guides like Somaya Moniri offers a different, albeit fragile, image of Afghanistan; a narrative of women who are still trying to be seen, to be heard, and to play a role.