The Kabul Tribune (KT)— An Indian travel vlogger from Kerala who has been travelling across Afghanistan said she was arrested by the Taliban in Bamyan and claimed that her “crime was traveling without a male companion.”
The vlogger, who operates under the name “Backpacker Arunima,” made the claim in a post on Facebook, where she also appealed for help contacting the Indian embassy.
She shared what she described as a translation of an official communication from local authorities. The translated message said she had been arrested because she did not have an “official letter.”
“My crime was traveling without male companion,” Arunima said in the post.
She also wrote: “If you anyone know Indian embassy please contact,” appealing for assistance in reaching Indian diplomatic officials.
The claims could not be independently verified. There was no immediate response from India’s Ministry of External Affairs regarding the alleged arrest.
The post did not provide further details about where she was being held, who had detained her or what specific rules she was accused of violating.
The reported incident comes as New Delhi has significantly expanded its engagement with the Taliban. In October 2025, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi made the first official visit to India by a senior Taliban leader since the group returned to power in 2021. During the visit, India announced that its technical mission in Kabul would be upgraded to a full embassy, while the two sides discussed trade, humanitarian assistance, security and broader diplomatic ties.
The visit also triggered controversy in India after women journalists were excluded from Muttaqi’s first press conference in New Delhi. Indian journalist organizations, opposition politicians and women’s rights advocates criticized the decision as discriminatory. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it had no role in organizing the press conference.
Muttaqi later held another press conference that included women journalists and described the earlier exclusion as a “technical issue,” saying there had been no intention to exclude women.
The controversy highlighted concerns over the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls, which include severe limits on education, employment, movement and participation in public life. Human Rights Watch has described the Taliban’s policies as systematic restrictions on women’s rights.
Arunima has travelled across Afghanistan and posted several videos from the country on social media. She has more than 1.2 million followers on Instagram, about 239,000 on Facebook and more than 730,000 subscribers on YouTube.
According to her social media profiles, she has spent the past six years travelling through remote areas, including by hitchhiking, and documenting what she describes as “rare and risky” regions.
