A solo trip through Afghanistan turned into a frightening ordeal for Arunima I P, a travel vlogger from Kerala, after local authorities in Bamyan threatened to arrest her for travelling without a male companion or guide.
Arunima, who travels under the name “Backpacker Arunima”, initially posted that she had been “arrested” by the “Mujahideen” and appealed for help in contacting the Indian Embassy. She later clarified that she had been detained and questioned for several hours and threatened with arrest, rather than formally arrested. She has since said that she is safe.
The episode has drawn attention to a larger question: what happens when a foreign woman tries to travel alone in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan?
Who is Arunima?
Arunima is a travel content creator from Ottapalam in Kerala who has been travelling through Afghanistan alone and documenting the journey on social media.
According to The Indian Express, she had entered Afghanistan the previous month and had been travelling across the country, attracting attention because women travelling alone in public are rarely seen under the Taliban’s restrictive system.
Her social-media presence is substantial. Reports say she has more than 1.2 million Instagram followers and over 7.3 lakh YouTube subscribers.
What happened in Bamyan?
Arunima said she reached Bamyan during her solo journey and was stopped by local authorities.
She was asked to show her passport, visa and travel permits and was questioned about where she was staying. According to her account, officials told her that she had violated local rules by travelling without a male companion or guide and threatened to arrest her.
She said she was eventually able to contact a man who had helped her reach the area. He returned and spoke to the authorities, after which the situation was resolved.
Arunima said she was held for around three hours and later released.
The distinction is important: early reports described the incident as an arrest, based on Arunima’s own initial social-media post. Her subsequent account characterised it as a detention and threat of arrest. The Hindustan Times also said it could not independently verify her claims and that there was no immediate official response from Afghan authorities.
Why was she stopped for travelling alone?
This is where Afghanistan’s post-Taliban rules become crucial.
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Afghan women have faced sweeping restrictions on movement. Women have been instructed not to travel long distances without a mahram, or close male relative. The European Union Agency for Asylum says women have been instructed not to travel more than 72 km without a male relative, while restrictions have also affected their ability to use domestic and international flights without male accompaniment.
The Taliban’s restrictions were subsequently incorporated into a broader morality-law framework, further regulating women’s movement, dress and interaction with men.
That means Arunima’s experience was not simply a case of a tourist encountering an unusually strict local official. Her gender and the fact that she was travelling alone put her directly at odds with the restrictions governing women’s mobility under Taliban rule.
She had already faced a problem in Jalalabad
Arunima said the Bamyan incident was not the first obstacle she encountered.
According to her account, authorities in Jalalabad had earlier refused to issue her a permit because she was travelling without a man. She said she was told that she would need either a male companion or a guide.
Her subsequent journey through Afghanistan therefore involved navigating a system in which the rules applied to female travellers could be fundamentally different from those faced by men.
Why did she seek help from the Indian Embassy?
At the height of the incident, Arunima posted a message saying she was “in trouble in Afghanistan” and appealed for assistance in contacting the Indian Embassy.
That post triggered concern among her followers and was widely reported in India.
By Tuesday, however, she posted that she was safe and indicated that she planned to leave Afghanistan, travelling towards the Uzbekistan border.
What does the incident tell us about travelling in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan?
Arunima’s case illustrates a fundamental contradiction for foreign tourists visiting Afghanistan.
The country has increasingly attracted foreign travellers and content creators because of its landscapes, historic sites and the relative improvement in security in some areas since the end of the major war. But the experience of a foreign woman travelling independently can be dramatically different.
Afghanistan’s restrictions on women are among the most severe in the world. The UN and rights organisations have repeatedly highlighted restrictions on women’s education, employment, movement and participation in public life. The UN human-rights office said in March 2026 that conditions for women and girls had continued to deteriorate dramatically. (OHCHR)
For a solo female traveller, therefore, the question is not simply whether a particular destination is physically safe. It is also whether her manner of travelling complies with the Taliban’s rules governing women.
The bigger question: Can women travel solo in Afghanistan?
Not in the way solo female travellers ordinarily would elsewhere.
The Taliban’s restrictions mean that women can face requirements involving a mahram, a male companion, a guide, permits and restrictions on movement, depending on the circumstances and location. Enforcement can also vary, making the situation difficult for visitors to navigate.
That is why Arunima’s experience has become more than a story about one Indian traveller.
It offers a window into how dramatically Afghanistan’s rules can reshape even the most basic act of travel for women.
For Arunima, the immediate crisis ended with her release and her confirmation that she was safe. But her ordeal underscores the risks that can confront women who attempt to navigate Taliban-controlled Afghanistan alone — even when they enter the country as tourists and content creators rather than political actors.
