KABUL: Sophie Ibbotson cried the day she finally visited the Gardens of Babur.
One of the most iconic sites of Kabul, the 16th-century garden complex was a place she had known from the photographs taken by her aunt Margaret, who had taught English in Afghanistan in the 1960s.
At that time, the country was free from foreign invasions. People enjoyed their city’s parks and landmarks, and afternoons sipping tea from samovars with their friends and family.
“I’d wanted to visit Afghanistan since I was a child,” she said. “I cried the day I finally went to Babur’s Garden. I was captivated by the dramatic beauty of the landscapes, the richness of the cultures, and the warmth of the people I met.”
Sophie first visited in 2010 with the nongovernmental organization Afghanaid, and then twice more before the COVID-19 pandemic and the return of the Taliban made subsequent trips more difficult.
She had to cancel planned visits in 2021 and 2024, but last year was back again, leading an all-female Oxus Expedition from London to the headwaters of Amu Darya — one of the world’s longest rivers, historically known as the Oxus.
While Sophie went to find the source of the river — a location debated by geographers and politicians for the past 200 years — Kamila Erkaboyeva, who traveled with her, was forming her first impressions of the country: a world very different from the one she had known through mass media after growing up in Uzbekistan and the UK.
As Afghanistan is “always on the news — and not for the best reasons,” the moment they entered Afghanistan from Termiz on the Uzbek border was, for her, filled with tension. But it did not last long and faded as soon as she began interacting with ordinary people.
Sophie Ibbotson and Kamila Erkaboyeva at the Kosh Tepa Canal near Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, Aug. 18, 2025. (Sophie Ibbotson)
In one of the highest and most isolated parts of the Pamir Mountains, she had bonded with the local community over “The Pit,” a blockbuster Turkish action TV series known across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
“We have a lot more in common than we think, and Afghans are very educated and easy-hearted people,” she said, recalling how in mountain villages children would run to them with hugs and smiles.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re poor or rich, you’re welcome everywhere. You feel safe.”
In a country that for much of the past half-century has endured invasions and civil war, hospitality, openness, and security are not what foreign visitors immediately expect.
Ana Tasic, a Slovenian skiing instructor who first came to Afghanistan in 2016 and has since returned at least 15 times — often as a guide — observes how quickly these perspectives change.
“We have such negative ideas about Afghanistan in Europe that it’s really great to see how tourists react when they see kindness and generosity,” she said.
“The generosity of Afghan people is really special and humbling, especially given everything people in Afghanistan have been through in the last many decades.”
Ana has witnessed security in Afghanistan improving since 2021, when the Taliban took control following the collapse of its Western-backed government and withdrawal of US-led foreign troops.
But she knows her greater safety stands in stark contrast with how the situation has changed for Afghan women.
After the restrictions the Taliban administration has imposed on female mobility, access to education and work, the conditions — which were not great before — have only deteriorated. Some of Ana’s women co-workers from Bamyan have left the country because “life for them has become unbearable in Afghanistan.”
Sophie, when she returned to Afghanistan after several years, was hit by this reality too, but she also saw something else: Afghan women who refuse to disappear.
“The environment these women are living and working in is even more difficult than before, but they don’t give up … I met young graduates who, although barred from most workplaces, are still working remotely, teaching, and supporting one another. And I met fathers with unwavering commitment to educating their daughters, even if that means sending them abroad,” she said.
Afghan resilience and determination were no longer surprising to her — she now sees them as a part of the country’s complex story. What does continue to surprise her, however, is the warmth with which people welcome travelers: families with almost nothing open their homes and share what little food they have. Sophie has experienced this time and again.
“Nothing prepares you for the hospitality and the pride people have in their lands, their cultures, and their families, nor for the majestic mountain landscapes and the power of the rivers,” she said.
“Too often we think of Afghanistan as a land of warlords and opium farmers. To me, it is also a land of poets and mystics, of teachers and innovators, of makers and doers of all kinds.”
