Female tour guides in Afghanistan lead women-only groups as some travelers return

By Elena Becatoros

They wandered through the museum, listening attentively as their guide explained the antiquities in display cabinets. It could have been any tour group, anywhere in the world. But there was something unusual about this one.

The group of foreigners visiting the National Museum of Afghanistan was made up only of women. Its guide was a woman, too — one of the first Afghan female tour guides in a country whose Taliban rulers impose the severest restrictions on girls and women anywhere in the world.

Somaya Moniry, 24, hadn’t known that tour guides existed, as a profession or even as a concept. But while browsing the internet for help on improving her English language skills, she stumbled upon Couchsurfing, an app where travelers connect with locals and stay in their homes.

After hosting a traveler, “I became very passionate about it and it was very interesting for me,” Moniry said. “It was very