Taliban officials said they relied on tourists, especially bloggers and YouTubers, to extol the virtues of visiting Afghanistan... A small percentage of foreign visitors are women, tourism officials said... They are not required to wear burqas or cover their faces.... Male tourists, too, are expected to dress modestly, but they do not face the same intense scrutiny as women....
[When] Allen Ruppel, 63, a retired insurance company executive from Wisconsin... told his wife where he was going, he said, she joked that “I can’t stop you, but I might get an Afghan hound to replace you.” Mr. Ruppel, who wore a blue shalwar kameez, said he was surprised by how warmly he had been received by Afghans and by how safe the country seemed. He said he would encourage his friends to “open your minds and take a fresh look at Afghanistan.”
There's a photo captioned: "A Chinese visitor from a tour group in front of the remains of the 1,600-year-old Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 in Bamiyan." Imagine posing in the empty niche of a colossus and posting on Instagram. I met a traveler from an antique land....
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48 comments:
"Allen Ruppel, 63, a retired insurance company executive from Wisconsin"
Sounds like a MAD Magazine story about to go horribly wrong....
JSM
I always feel safe in a strange new place. Could it be ignorance! Nah.
Bombs, Burqas, Bamiyan Buddhas, and Bacha Bazi...come on down to Pashtun Vegas!
I suppose that Chinese tourist hoped we would look upon him and despair.
A summer vacation in Berlin in 1936 was as nice as one could wish.
Apparently Allen Ruppel’s wife was aware that whatever her husband thought, Afghanistan is not a safe and welcoming place for women.
I’ve recently been getting adverts for Qatar and UAE in my streaming feeds. They seem to be pushing how they welcome westernized women by showing very attractive young women wearing western clothes with hair and faces quite visible. I’ve heard Abu Dhabi is quite westernized and I suspect it would be more safe and welcoming than even Paris or New York, if not cheaper. It is good to see, but it is all still too close, politically and geographically, to a war zone I rather avoid.
Unfortunately related, I’d like to note that if a place disgusts you so much that you never can say a good thing about it. Why would you go there and on a daily basis, especially when you have absolutely no standing or capability to change it? The only rational I can see is a poor assumption that your rudeness in being present will make a change despite your own willingness and incapacity to change. Don’t expect your intolerance to be tolerated.
"[When] Allen Ruppel, 63, a retired insurance company executive from Wisconsin... told his wife where he was going, he said, she joked that “I can’t stop you, but I might get an Afghan hound to replace you....”
Not to mention, a nice little supplemental policy, with a rider on 'repatriation of remains'. Afghanistan, Central Asia's desert flower ! Come for the rubble !
Waiting for the review from Tim Walz
Really no need to go any Muslim country when there are so many other interesting places to see. Unless you're into violating some Islamic rule and want to see how justice is meted out in a Shariah court.
I spent two weeks in Afghanistan in January, 1973, when traveling across Asia was a "thing" among young people. . It was a shithole then---Kandahar was the absolute worst---and after years of war, I imagine it's even more of a shithole now.
Love the "open your minds" quip about Afghanistan. Sure, it's just bigotry.
The "Geography Now!" youtube guy went recently. He had a lot of local fans who did most or all of the interfacing with the Taliban folks so as to keep him under their radar and was able to go to quite a few places. It doesn't hurt that he's half-Korean so looks rather ethnically ambiguous and can kinda pass as an Afghan.
He made a fascinating video about it -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMkcxC8cF10
Well, if the Government assures me, all I can say is all righty then! Book my flights!!
And when you go book a side trip to Haiti on your return leg, jerk chicken in Port of Prince is allegedly the real deal.
Like Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, etc.. I have no desire to go to these s*ithole places... especially s*ithole places ran by radicals and communist.
How welcoming is Afghanistan for LGBT guests? Open your mind!
I recently travelled to a part of Mexico that the State Department says to avoid, and I was perfectly safe. Government warning should be taken with a grain of salt. My most recent trip was here in the US where I missed the attack in New Orleans by only a few hours. That said, I'll probably still avoid Afghanistan.
We could have left the Northern Alliance to work out their differences with the Taliban. But what is done, is done, and there is no longer a viable resistance in lieu of Biden pronouncing sentence on the Afghans. Hopefully, there will not progress another ethnic Spring with our imminent withdrawal of financial and ethical support.
It's like the collapsed railroad bridge at the Kinzua Gorge. Instead of cleaning up the wreckage, they built an overlook and a visitors center. People like to go look at it.
I love that poem. "Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
I can see two reasons for Afghanistan to encourage tourism.
1. Generating extra income for a war torn country. Certainly a reasonable desire. If I were them, I would think about fostering a Dubai-like oasis. Invest heavily and make it very appealing. IF, IF they really wanted to get people to visit.
2. Getting potentaal hostages for ransoming. First, get people to come. Treat them well, get others to come. Then, find some poor schmuck that you can accuse of espionage, and hold them for ransom. I will avoid being that Schmuck.
Note, Afghanistan treats it women like chattel. This is not a country one should visit and encourage. They are also quite hostile to western ideals and people. Until they treat people humanely, I think they should remain a pariah.
They have a special program of bringing them to the highest places in Kabul to see the sights. Free of charge honest.
I have already visited, courtesy of our federal government and the US Army. I've also spent time in Europe, South America and Asia. 9 years in Europe, to be exact. I've seen enough. There's still a lot of the good 'ol USA that I haven't seen. No need to go so far.
I have already visited, courtesy of our federal government and the US Army. I've also spent time in Europe, South America and Asia. 9 years in Europe, to be exact. I've seen enough. There's still a lot of the good 'ol USA that I haven't seen. No need to go so far.
Vietnam???
From the article…
“Mr. Ruppel, who wore a blue shalwar kameez…”
I immediately thought of Justin Trudeau playing dress-up during his not so well received 2023 trip to India.
The dust. I'm sure you remember the dust. I hate Afghan dust. Finely granulated, talc-like powdered shit that is only immediately detectable when something mechanical needs to operate or you start chafing. No matter how much you try or how much you wash it is never gone. It's like glitter. It is always with you, even years afterwards when you see a slight discoloration in a deep hard to reach crevice of a memento or clinging desperately to the pocket lint of a pair of pants you washed 10 fucking times to be rid of it.
The dust itself is a metaphor for Afghanistan. Infuriating.
If "feminists" had the courage of their convictions, they'd be in there streets advocating a boycott of all the Islamist countries that oppress women -- just as there were boycotts of Rhodesia and South Africa. But no.
"and by how safe the country seemed."
well well well.. Appearances can be deceiving, can't they?
the last time i walked on Stony Island, it also "SEEMED" safe,
of course, it was April, and it was 1:30 in the afternoon
“Taliban Airlines… the only way to fly.”
“We really move your tail for you!”
—— Flight Attendant Shahood Smelsofazz
On the Hashish Trail… back then, you wouldn’t lose your head.
So maybe send all of the illegal immigrants in NYC to Afghanistan, one way of course? If it is such a great place, they should all really enjoy themselves.
They killed their leader massoud two days before 9-11
The Taliban are notorious for policies of Diversity (e.g. racism, sexism), Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
Wouldn't this be more like Berlin in 1947?
Open invite to the most exclusive rooftop party.
Keep the young boys on a tight tether.
They can help boost the economy of Afghanistan.
whiskey beat me to it in (almost) identifying Althouse's reference, but both he(?) and Althouse left out my favorite ironic line from Ozymandias:
Look on my works ye mighty and despair
--gpm
Looking again, Quaestor's "look upon him and despair" also somewhat references Ozymandias.
--gpm
None other than Margaret Atwood once said wearing the burka made her feel surprisingly liberated from the male gaze. Though I imagine imagining her face is better than seeing it. Naomi Wolfe also got off on it, though what doesn’t get that walking hairpiece off?
Just so long as it wasn’t an imaginary American burka, I suppose. 50% off on FGM for Western ladies may be a draw for dozy bints.
It’s types like Atwood — though mostly male ones — who indulge in these misogyny torture-porn tours. Pedophiles with a preference for boys like them too, once the humidity in Thailand gives them crotch rot.
Sicko tourists. Likely the same people who have a special delusion about Trump and Russia, only with sexual slavery thrown in.
Why not just visit strip clubs in New Jersey and call it a day?
tcrosse "How welcoming is Afghanistan for LGBT guests? Open your mind!"
I'm sure they have daily happy hours for these guests out on the penthouse garden.
In my day, "Holiday in Cambodia" was just a song, not a travel itinerary.
Sounds nice. Maybe Biden should stop sending them money.
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