An Indian content creator named Arunima IP was briefly detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan after traveling alone as a woman in the country. She was released after several hours in custody and later posted on social media that she was safe. Arunima, who has over 1.2 million followers on Instagram and more than 733,000 subscribers on YouTube, shared that she was stopped because the Taliban does not allow women to travel alone. She had been traveling in Afghanistan for about two weeks and posted an SOS message on Monday, asking for help contacting the Indian embassy. Around 24 hours later, she updated her followers, saying she had been released and was safe. Arunima has been documenting her travels in Afghanistan through YouTube and Instagram, visiting markets and remote villages. In one of her posts, she mentioned that in Afghanistan, women are generally only allowed to show their eyes in public, but as a foreign woman, she was permitted to show her face. However, she still had to cover her head and body. In a video shared online, she showed herself being stopped by armed individuals claiming to be Taliban members. She described being questioned at checkpoints and handing over her Indian passport. The people who stopped her could not read her documents and told her she needed a special permit to travel between provinces. Arunima described the experience as terrifying, saying she felt as though she could have died during her time in custody. Later, she hitchhiked on a truck and reached the city of Bamyan. When she got off the vehicle, people approached her, as it is unusual for a woman to be alone in Afghanistan at night. She also traveled to remote areas like Jalalabad and was seen with fully-covered Afghan women. She noted that locals were surprised to see a woman outside, as it is rare in the region. At a roadside eatery, she was approached by armed men who questioned her and took photos. Arunima expressed confusion over why the Taliban granted her a visa despite knowing she was traveling alone, only to detain her afterward. She said the Taliban told her she had broken their rules and would be arrested. She described Taliban members as acting like police officers who could do whatever they wanted. She asked to be deported, stating, “What was my crime? I had travelled alone as a woman in a country where women are not allowed to travel alone.” She was planning to travel to Iran but now intends to go to Uzbekistan, which is 500 km away. She expressed concern about increased scrutiny from Taliban officials along the route. Neither the Taliban nor the Indian embassy have commented on her case. Most countries have issued travel warnings for Afghanistan due to the ongoing instability. Many content creators have ignored these warnings to document their journeys in the country, despite strict restrictions on Afghan women and more lenient rules for foreigners. Some human rights experts have criticized the ethics of visiting Afghanistan for pleasure when the government imposes severe restrictions on half its population.