Four days in Afghanistan
Aug 18, 2021, 8:05 am
#46
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 179
Yes, sad it is. And humiliating for some. Worrying and more for the population. However, while a lot of people are predicting a return to the Dark Ages, I'm not so sure. Taliban.2 might turn out to be rather different from Taliban.1 and be on a charm offensive for several years, preserving the progress made with regards to human rights and also recognising diplomatic relations. If that turns out to be the case, tourism of a sort would be to their advantage, possibly enabling certain outfits such as Wild Frontiers to operate cultural tours there again in a few years' time.
Aug 18, 2021, 10:29 am
#47
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: WAS
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Posts: 4,596
Aug 19, 2021, 12:43 am
#48
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: IHG Diamond Ambassador, Accor Plat, M&M FTL, BA Blue, QR Gold
Posts: 3,736
The vast majority of tours that operated inside Afghanistan were actually run by "Let's be Friends", which is an Afghan owned tour company based in Mazar-i-sharif. Most of the tour companies selling tours in Afghanistan never ran the tours, and contracted out to "Let's be Friends". That said, the obstacle to restarting tourism (ignoring the safety risks) is having a government that is willing to issue tourist visas. Whether the Taliban cares at all about such a thing seems dubious at best. Its not like the volume of tourism over the past 20 years was anything more than a statistical rounding error in the country's economy.
14 Days : Trekking Tour in Wakhan August 2021 - letsbefriendsafghanistan
Aug 19, 2021, 12:54 am
#49
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Let me check my Logbook
Programs: Southwest Rapid Rewards; AAdvantage; Alaska Mileage Plan; Wyndham Rewards; Choice Hotels
Posts: 2,350
Fascinating Trip Report especially in light of recent events. Thanks for taking the time and effort to compose and post. Great pictures.
Aug 19, 2021, 8:10 am
#50
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: Meh
Posts: 2,598
Yes, sad it is. And humiliating for some. Worrying and more for the population. However, while a lot of people are predicting a return to the Dark Ages, I'm not so sure. Taliban.2 might turn out to be rather different from Taliban.1 and be on a charm offensive for several years, preserving the progress made with regards to human rights and also recognising diplomatic relations. If that turns out to be the case, tourism of a sort would be to their advantage, possibly enabling certain outfits such as Wild Frontiers to operate cultural tours there again in a few years' time.
Seriously, read up on the Taliban.
Aug 20, 2021, 2:20 pm
#52
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SoCal
Posts: 175
For those interested, here is an email I received from Lupine Travel UK in response to my query about the safety of the Let’s Be Friends Afghanistan team:
Yes we're still in touch with them all. We tried to get Noor and his family out a couple of weeks ago but it fell through. Two other avenues since then have also hit problems. We're still working on it though and hoping to get some good news soon. In case it's of interest, I'm posting updates here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dylan-harris-2 (no need to donate, we already have enough money to cover costs once we have visas for them).
We're also working with other companies to help get Noor's other guides and drivers out, as well as fixers and guides who work in tourism around Afghanistan. https://fundly.com/support-afghan-guides-and-fixers-1
Yes we're still in touch with them all. We tried to get Noor and his family out a couple of weeks ago but it fell through. Two other avenues since then have also hit problems. We're still working on it though and hoping to get some good news soon. In case it's of interest, I'm posting updates here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dylan-harris-2 (no need to donate, we already have enough money to cover costs once we have visas for them).
We're also working with other companies to help get Noor's other guides and drivers out, as well as fixers and guides who work in tourism around Afghanistan. https://fundly.com/support-afghan-guides-and-fixers-1
Aug 27, 2021, 7:49 pm
#53
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Central Florida
Programs: UA, IHG
Posts: 464
Returning to FlyerTalk after a long hiatus (surprising how focused one can get when one is working from home - no kidding!).
Something tells me that this thread is going to be the most popular one of FlyerTalk in the near future!
Will read in detail and comment more later :-)
Something tells me that this thread is going to be the most popular one of FlyerTalk in the near future!
Will read in detail and comment more later :-)