Band-e-Amir becomes Afghanistan's first national park

Band-e-Amir National Park, the first national park in the country, in central Afghanistan is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations, with its six deep blue lakes that shimmer high in the Hindu Kush mountains.

Visitors can picnic and even rent swan-shaped paddle boats to navigate one of six deep blue lakes that shimmer high in the mountains, amid picturesque red-hued cliffs and rocky natural dams. The peaceful Band-e-Amir Park tells an entirely different story of a country whose recent historical narrative has been defined by violence.