Female guide defying the Taliban with remote tours

Fatima Haidari is one of the few Afghan women tour guides still working. Tamara Davidson learns how she’s able to share the joys of her homeland virtually from Italy – where she fled

- 

As Taliban fighters closed in on Herat, the third largest city in Afghanistan in 2021, Fatima Haidari was faced with one of the hardest decisions of her life. Recognised as Afghanistan’s first female tour guide, she was used to being challenged about her work – but this was different.

It wasn’t the first time that the Taliban had been in control, and those who lived through the first government between 1996 and 2001 knew all too well what their return meant. As a prominent figure in Afghanistan, Fatima’s life was in immediate danger – not only because she was an independent woman but also because her work showcased Afghanistan’s heritage to the world.

“I didn’t want to leave at first because my parents, my family, everybody, and everything I had was there in Herat,” the 26year-old guide told The Independent. But her friends begged her to leave while she could, warning Fatima that if she was caught “they not only would kill you – but also your loved ones”. On 21 August 2021, less than a week after the Taliban reclaimed power, Fatima fled to Italy.

It’s been almost four years since the Islamic fundamentalist group regained control of Afghanistan after US forces dramatically withdrew. Initial hopes that the regime would be less oppressive have been dashed as top Taliban officials – who the International Criminal Court recently planned to seek arrest warrants for – enforced strict and brutal interpretations of Sharia law to police the country.