AFGHANISTAN has launched a bizarre video campaign to attract tourists – including a chilling hostage video.

The slick professionally produced video starts with footage of a hooded man surrounded by armed men in an ISIS-style execution.

Five men holding gargantuan machine guns are seen eerily standing over three prisoners, with their heads covered with black bags.

The leader is heard saying: “We have one message for America.”

The hood is then snatched off before he grins: “Welcome to Afghanistan.”

The weird promotional ad then focuses on gunmen in the back of pick-up trucks amid rugged scenery alongside a group of American tourists.

Pictures of armed Mujahideen warriors whose weapons are emblazoned with the words “fake gun” are shown.

And the group are seen diving into lakes, eating extravagant meals, standing under waterfalls and taking pictures with presumably confused children.

One chilling clip shows an American holding a US Army-issue M4A1 carbine.

This was the weapon predominantly used by American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It comes as no surprise that women have no role in the vile video.

It currently remains unknown whether the video is connected to official Afghani institutions.

Taliban mullahs desperate to soften their terrifying image are behind the tourist marketing video, shared across social media by in Arabic (@afghanarabc).

The Taliban began their drive to make Afghanistan a tourist hotspot in spring 2024, with a tourism and hotel management school opened.

Since then, social media channels have worked to promote the country’s history as a way to lure in holidaymakers.

Last month, Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Tourism Qudratullah Jamal said: “The Afghan people are warm and welcoming and wish to host tourists from other countries and engage with them.

“Tourism brings many benefits to a country. We have considered those benefits and aim for our nation to take full advantage of them.

“We are optimistic this sector will evolve into a large economy, bringing significant benefits. It plays an important role in strengthening our national economy.”

Nearly a whopping 9,000 foreign tourists visited the country last year alone, while nearly 3,000 visited in the first three months of 2025, Jamal said.

He refused to answer questions about the Taliban’s treatment of women, however.

Jamal added: “Those who respect our laws and traditions have already come and can continue to come.”

Since US forces withdrew in 2022, Afghanistan has been under the boot of the extremist Taliban regime.

In the Taliban-controlled country, women are unable to leave the house without a man, speak in public or even look through a window while home.

The Afghanistan government’s strict “virtue and vice” laws force women to stop doing various things in public, like showing their face and bodies, singing or reading aloud, and looking at men they are not related to.

Women in the country are also no longer able to visit national parks or beauty salons, play sports or even go solo travelling beyond the perimeter of their houses due to sickening morality laws.

Some social media sites like Instagram and TikTok are beginning to show travel guides for Afghanistan, predominantly created by female travel influencers from countries like the UK, Australia and Hungary.

The Foreign Office warns against all travel to the nation and the heightened risk of detention.