STROLLING along a pristine street adorned with shrines glittering in the sunshine and cafes offering tasty local delicacies, Carrie Patsalis snaps a photo for her holiday album.
But this isn’t a city break in the - this is , the largest city in , ruled with an iron fist by the .
Despite its oppressive regime and appalling human rights record - and an advisory against all travel to the country from the UK government - Carrie is one of a growing number of British women who have swapped cocktails in for a holiday in one of the world’s top terror hotspots.
Only 691 tourists are believed to have visited the country in 2021, but this rose to an estimated 5,200 in 2023 as the government is trying to encourage more tourism.
Earlier this month the Taliban launched a warped campaign to lure more visitors, complete with a showing spoof hostages and gunmen in the back of pick-up trucks and frolicking in lakes amid stunning mountain scenery.
Ever since Afghanistan - which doesn’t have a British embassy - was seized by Taliban authorities in 2021, its citizens have experienced .
In August last year women’s voices were banned from being heard outside of the house and they are not allowed to visit public parks, gyms or use transport without a male chaperone.
Authorities dictate how they dress, and Afghan women do not have access to education beyond primary school level.
Anyone who is critical of the Taliban regime faces being tortured.
However, it is slowly becoming an unlikely destination for brave travellers looking for a true culture shock.
Home-stays are not allowed and tourists can only stay in hotels verified by the Taliban.
Carrie, a media producer from Wanstead, , travelled by herself to Afghanistan for 10 days, accompanied by a male tour guide.
Just six days after she left, a terrorist attack saw three Spanish tourists killed in the Bamiyan province, the largest in the Central region.
A tour guide Carrie met during a trip to neighbouring encouraged her to visit Afghanistan, insisting it would “blow her mind”.
But it took two years before she even considered it as she didn’t want to support the controversial Taliban regime.
She eventually decided she wanted to see for herself what local life was like for Afghan people.
After extensive research she found a local guide she felt comfortable with who helped her book the trip and answered questions over FaceTime.
Carrie told The Sun: “He said, ‘You’ve got to come, it’ll blow your mind, it’s not what you think.’
“I was like, ‘No way, absolutely not.’ I felt like if I went I was supporting something I don’t agree with.
The first thing that struck me was how super clean the streets were. Everything was very quiet and calm. You’d imagine it would be carnage and it wasn’t
Carrie Patsalis
“It took me a lot of time and consideration, and then I just thought, ‘Maybe if I go, I can see how local life is and we can talk about it on social media.’
“It was a risk but I felt I’d done enough research.”
Carrie only told her husband and 16-year-old twin sons about the trip to avoid scaring the rest of her family.
It cost her just over £1,100 for a return flight to Afghanistan, and she stopped off for two days in to collect her visa which cost around £220.
Landing at Kabul International Airport on May 2 last year, she was surprised to be greeted by “massive smiles”.
She recalled: “I was nervous flying in as there is no British embassy. Hospitals are not well-equipped at all. I took my own medical supplies in and I went in very, very steady.
“The first thing that struck me was how super clean the streets were. Everything was very quiet and calm. You’d imagine it would be carnage and it wasn’t.
“Afghan people are very kind, sweet and shy. You notice immediately there are no women on the streets.”
Unpleasant encounter
During her stay in Kabul, the capital, she visited stunning shrines, reflected on the impact of War at Babur Garden and tasted local delicacies.
One day she visited ‘White Flag Hill’, home to a large white flag raised by the Taliban that features the Islamic declaration of faith in black writing.
Feeling out of place as the only woman up the hill, she was shocked to witness a local man be punished simply for asking to take a photo with her.
Carrie said: “I noticed that the men up there were intrigued [by me] but also backing away from me.
“One young guy came up to me and was like, ‘It’s amazing to see you here’ and we had a chat. Taliban guards were floating like sharks.
“He said to me, ‘Can I take a photo with you?’
“The Taliban guard came and pushed him in the back of the head and took him off. I assume he got his photo deleted and we have to hope that nothing more happened.
“It’s a real shame because for me in my world, everything he did was normal. White Flag Hill was not pleasant.”
Days later she took a one-hour flight to Kandahar, a city .
I noticed that the men up there were intrigued [by me] but also backing away from me
Carrie Patsalis
With Taliban checkpoints and patrols, Carrie was “nervous” about stepping foot in a place with such strict government control.
“It just felt a lot more serious there,” she said.
Sniffer dogs and armed Taliban guards lined the airport and Carrie was struck by the heightened security checks for tourists, which saw her bag checked five times.
She feared one of her camera sticks could be mistaken for a weapon, but it wasn’t that which generated panic.
Carrie said: “I remembered the very last thing I’d shoved in my bag was a purple Victoria’s Secret bra.
“One of the guys managed to pull the bra out by its strap so it dangled lengthways in the air for quite some time.
“The remaining four men looked horrified and clearly didn’t know what to do with themselves.
“The main guy had seemingly frozen and suddenly he dropped the bra as if it was a grenade.”
The incident ended up cutting short what could have been a gruelling search process - as guards accepted Carrie’s offer to help repack the offending garment and the rest of her bag.
Trailed by Taliban guards
In Kandahar, Carrie’s tour guide drove her through the lively city for a day of visiting the beautiful mosques and historic landmarks such as the Friday Mosque, known for housing the cloak of the Prophet Muhammad.
During the six-hour trip, the tour guide parked up the car to allow Carrie to admire the historical shrines.
Carrie was trailed the whole time by a guy on a motorbike, who she figured was a Taliban member linked to the tourism office, ordered to keep an eye on her.
Carrie said: “He was always at a bit of a distance but he was always there. Every time we went to a shrine he was there about 10 or 20 feet away.
“If I turned my head he’d turn and pretend to be looking at the mosque. He obviously assumed I was oblivious.
The guard was always at a bit of a distance but he was always there. Every time we went to a shrine he was there about 10 or 20 feet away
Carrie Patsalis
“When we went for lunch he parked down the side of the restaurant and sure enough drove out when we drove off.
“He followed us for the rest of the day and then went off.”
Carrie realised she was an ‘unusual’ site in Afghanistan given the lack of tourists and freedom for women.
“Obviously they’re wary of me,” she said. “They’ve been bombed for years so they’re not going to just let anyone in.
“If you go in knowing and understanding why they might be frightened of you then you will understand why they are following you.
“I’d rather the Taliban know where I am because they can see I’m not doing anything dodgy.
“It’s really easy to wrap up an entire nation with a regime but actually most of the people, even if they work for the Taliban, they work for the Taliban to put food on the table.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean they support the oppression of women.”
Foreign privilege
Throughout her travels Carrie couldn’t forget her ‘foreign privilege’ as unlike local women, she could visit public places, which she admitted “didn’t sit right”.
While she encourages others to experience the country’s “beautiful culture”, she urges people to be “completely aware of the risks” before travelling there.
Carrie said: “My trip to Afghanistan was incredibly rewarding and I do want to go back.
“What I wouldn’t do is say, ‘Sure, go and book your flight now.’
“It is a regime that is not recognised politically by many governments around the world. If you go you must be completely aware of the risks and it must be a risk you are willing to take.
“But when we only talk about the Taliban and women we lose the opportunity to celebrate what is a beautiful culture.”
‘No more dangerous than UK night out’
Zoe Stephens, 31, who works for Koryo Tours and lives in Crosby, , has visited Afghanistan three times between August 2024 and June 2025.
She travels with a group of up to eight women and with local female tour guides to get a glimpse into the daily lives of women and girls living there.
It took a year of researching and planning, which included a research trip in August 2024, before she was able to safely take her first tour group there.
Zoe said: “Everything is a risk in life. For me, the risk of going to Afghanistan is no more dangerous than walking the streets of a bustling city centre on a dark night.
“People always think they know better. They always warn you against going to these places.
“I’m confident in myself to go to these places because of my ability to handle any tricky situation, and if I didn’t then I wouldn’t go.
Everything is a risk in life. For me, the risk of going to Afghanistan is no more dangerous than walking the streets of a bustling city centre on a dark night
Zoe Stephens
“I had chatted to other travellers who’d been there and done my research. I wanted to see what it’s really like.”
Zoe doesn’t let any of her group walk around alone and sticks to cultural norms to avoid unwanted attention.
Recounting her first-hand experiences with the ‘morality police’ - a law enforcement body which implements strict interpretation of morality - she said: “They’re the ones you have to watch out for.
“It’s not allowed for women to go into public parks. There are a couple of instances where they very politely enforce these laws.
“If you’re a woman and you’re there then they may come up to you and politely ask you to leave.
“It’s a very brief insight into the daily life of what the women there have to deal with.
“The biggest rule is how you’re dressed. I always go on respecting and trying to blend in rather than sticking out and challenging any cultural norms.
“That would be to wear clothing down to your wrists and ankles and having your hair covered at all times.
“The main thing is modesty, not just in clothing but in behaviour as well. I wouldn’t recommend going around singing and dancing.”
Pro-tourism
Zoe and her group took part in traditional embroidery and cooking classes with local women and visited a women’s retreat centre.
She said it allowed her to see a different side to the lives of Afghan women.
“When all we see in the media is Afghan women as shapes behind cloth, that’s all we see them as,” she said.
“The Afghan women that I know and have seen and danced with, gossiped with and laughed with, are women who have great ambition and are so similar to us.
“But the reality for some people is they’re not allowed to leave their house. It’s about seeing these different dimensions.”
The traveller says she saw first-hand how the Taliban are trying to encourage more tourism.
The Afghan women that I know and have seen and danced with, gossiped with and laughed with, are women who have great ambition and are so similar to us. But the reality for some people is they’re not allowed to leave their house
Zoe Stephens
During her stay in Kandahar, a government minister decided to film her group as part of a ‘propaganda video’ by the Taliban for its X account.
But she wasn’t allowed to be part of it because she is a woman.
Zoe said: “At the moment, for a traveller, the authorities are on your side. It’s in your favour to cooperate with them. It was a surprise during my first visit.
“When you speak to them you realise there are varying levels and not everyone subscribes to certain ideologies.
“The minister wanted to get us on camera and make films, literal propaganda videos. They’re very pro-tourism.”
Zoe would recommend Afghanistan as a travel destination to Brits to better understand the culture and people - but she advises caution.
“Afghanistan has quickly become one of my favourite countries. You need to experience it to believe it,” she said.
“The amount of things the Afghans have been through compared to their warmth, resilience and friendliness, they’re just incredible people.
“Do your research beforehand, and if you’re not willing to follow the cultural norms and be respectful, then don’t go.”
