Bāmiyān , a town in central Afghanistan, is renowned for its monumental statues of Buddha (now destroyed) and its magnificent landscapes. Formerly a station on the road linking India to Central Asia and China and on the route from Gandhāra (in present-day northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) to Bactria (Foucher, La vieille route ), the town lies 240 kilometres northwest of Kabul, by road. Its valley is dominated on the south by the Kōh-i Bābā mountain range and on the north by the western end of the Hindu Kush. Through