Afghan National Park

Afghanistan’s Band-e-Amir national park could soon get World Heritage Status

Is this a primal yearning for normalcy? A sign that Afghanistan can return to natural life? Band-e-Amir, established as Afghanistan’s first national park, is one of nature’s new strongholds in this terror-ridden country. It’s carved out in the Hindu Kush, close to the Bamiyan Valley, where the 1,500 year old Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban. Close to the wildlife-rich transboundary in the Pamirs, shared between Pakistan, China and Tajikistan, Band-e-Amir has six sapphire blue lakes, separated by natural travertine dams, a rare mineral deposit. The park could soon get World Heritage Status. Recent surveys show that there are still wild ibex, wolves, foxes and the Afghan snow finch that roam here.