The ultimate tourist destination: Afghanistan?
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.”…
“I don’t know how Afghanistan will get safe again, if after 10 years of the international community it is still not safe,” Mr. Jamshady said.
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Give it 5 months.
The wild ones will revert to the 7th century and your head can be chopped off, live…now, there’s a tourist thrill, if there ever was one.
Obama, change and progress.
The ‘spring’ is a freezing -berg.
Schadenfreude on January 13, 2013 at 6:47 PM
Afghanistan is a pretty neat place. I mean, the mountains are tremendous. Those land mines, insurgents, IEDs, DShk’s, RPGs and taliban are a little much to deal with, but...did I mention the mountains?//
ted c on January 13, 2013 at 6:51 PM
I bet this place would be extremely interesting, geologically speaking.
And I would love to go.
But just like everywhere else over there, NEVER.
These places have never been safe much bcs so much of the culture these people are steeped in is poisonous.
And so they will remain poor, backward, and pathetic.
Badger40 on January 13, 2013 at 7:12 PM
Pregnant and you decide Afghanistan is a good place to visit?
I’m thinking that couple were the sort of people who hang “Gun Free Zone” signs on their front door, convinced that savages can be reasoned with.
Bishop on January 13, 2013 at 7:21 PM
Darwinian self-selection.
RoadRunner on January 13, 2013 at 7:25 PM
I wouldn’t even do it as the Russian couple did, way too easy for the savages to blow up an armored car or payoff one of the bodyguards.
I would love to see the Khyber Pass and the various places where the British duked it out with the Afghan tribes way back when, or where Alexander the Great’s men conquered. But I never will because the country will always be a cesspit of backwardness.
Bishop on January 13, 2013 at 7:30 PM
For tourists who are single (or pretending to be), don’t miss out on the Afghanistani Dating Service.
petefrt on January 13, 2013 at 7:31 PM
It was a nice place when it was Buddhist.
Then came the Islamo-locusts.
profitsbeard on January 13, 2013 at 7:36 PM
That is just BEGGING to be Darwinized.
MelonCollie on January 13, 2013 at 8:06 PM
Since I’m a beach baby, my vacation hellhole would be Tel Aviv or Sierra Leone.
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on January 13, 2013 at 8:10 PM