Holiday in Afghanistan: Taliban wish you were here

“My family – they have no male guardian – cannot travel from one district to another district,” Dr Akbari points out. “We are talking about 50% of the population who have no rights… We are talking about a regime which has installed gender apartheid.

“And yes, there is a humanitarian crisis: I’m happy that tourists might go and buy something from a shop and it might help a local family, but what is the cost of it? It is normalising the Taliban regime.”

Sascha Heeney admits she did have a “moral struggle” over the Taliban’s position on women before she visited.

“Of course, I feel very strongly about their rights – it crossed my mind,” she says. “But then as a traveller… I think countries are deserving to go to, and be listened to – we have a skewed idea. I like to see with my own eyes. I can make my own judgment.”

Rowan Beard from Pioneer Travel, which has been bringing groups to Afghanistan since 2016, argues for letting people “make their own conclusions rather than there being a one-size-fits-all answer to the experience women have in the country”.

But the overly positive view shared by some on social media can definitely be seen as problematic, says Mariana Novelli, professor of marketing and tourism at Nottingham University School of Business.

“I would be very wary of the sensationalisation of a destination,” she says, explaining that some may “paint an image that is naïve”.

“Sometimes travellers also want to send a positive message – but that does not mean that problems [aren’t still there].”