00:00And an Afghanistan tourism video originally posted by the Taliban on X has gone viral on social media this week, causing global debate.
00:09The one-minute-long clip features Taliban fighters smiling whilst holding rifles with the Afghan countryside in the background.
00:18Locals say they want to re-band the war-torn country and entice adventurous travelers to the region.
00:26OK, John, we can actually see that video right now. It's being played on our screen.
00:33Wow. OK. It's doing the rounds on social media. There it is. You know, everyone looking quite happy.
00:41Could it entice U.S. tourists to Afghanistan?
00:44It really depends. I honestly thought that looking at this initially that this is AI.
00:47I thought this is surely not real. And to find out that it is is even more terrifying, isn't it?
00:54Obviously, there's the safety concerns with any American tourist heading to Afghanistan right now.
00:59And it's still being red listed for many countries across the globe for tourism to go towards Taliban.
01:04The reputation as well, an American choosing to go to Taliban country and basically the public backlash would be phenomenal.
01:13Now, I'm not saying there's not people out there who would be keen to do this and there's not a demand because if there wasn't, we wouldn't be seeing videos like this.
01:19But the Taliban is, as we know, not internationally recognized as stable.
01:24It's it's not seen as a safe governing body.
01:27So this is definitely risky territory for those who are willing to take that risk and to jump on board.
01:32And it's a total mismatch on what tourism videos are normally.
01:35We normally see sweeping landscapes, beautiful backgrounds, incredible sights and sounds and a reason to go and visit.
01:42So this is a totally different take. There's no culture being focused on here.
01:46There's no nature or hospitality. This simply is a parade of violence is what we're seeing.
01:50And there is probably a market for it, which is more concerning than anything else.
01:55People will probably sign up for this if it is an option. And that terrifies me no end.
