bamiyan

Bamiyan was an important monastic complex at a time when Buddhism began to spread from India and Pakistan into Central Asia and China.

The building had been housing American special forces soldiers. Raziq and his partners rechristened it the Roof of Bamiyan Hotel.

In an area as traditional as Bamiyan, one of the major problems with this law is that it will stop the trend towards modernisation.

She also met with a group of female police cadets and Bamiyan's governor, Habiba Sorabi, Afghanistan's first female governor.

When the Buddhas of Bamiyan were carved out of the mountainside, the Roman Empire still held sway.

Earlier, Afghan security forces took over control of security in the province of Bamiyan from Nato troops, the first transition of its kind.

America has begun drawing down its troops, and a New Zealand-led force has left Bamiyan province.

(CNN) -- Thursday is "Chinese night" at the Hotel Silk Road in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province.

Additionally, materials will be provided for central and western Afghanistan and, specifically, for the Bamiyan area.

This was quite tragic because these Bamiyan Buddhas stood for the beliefs of hundreds of millions of people.

The views from the caves looking out over the valley are stunning and there is another twist to the story of the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

"Bamiyan is a very famous place, " said Najibullah Ahrai, head of information and culture for the province.

"The first thing we need to have more tourists in Bamiyan, we need security and peace. The second one is roads, " Wafa says.

Band-e-Amir is situated in the Mountainous Hazara- jat , 75 km from Bamiyan, a majestic blue lake known for its exquisite beauty.

Hotel Silk Road owner Yasui spotted Bamiyan's potential when she first traveled here as a photojournalist in 1996.

"Every time there is a bomb in Kabul, visitors cancel reservations, " says Raziq, operator of the Roof of Bamiyan Hotel.

Band-e-Amir is seen in this undated photo in Bamiyan province of Afghanistan.

I keep thinking of Batool, the pregnant activist in Bamiyan, and her baby, and her life in 20 years' time.

Flights to Bamiyan, where it is hard to travel the road because of insecurity, are usually full.

This morning I heard from women training at the Bamiyan Regional Police Training Center.

And from then, I went to the construction of a new road in Bamiyan that the United States has paid for.

Khadija, 40, sits in her cave early in the morning in Bamiyan on November 10, 2009.

A groom and bride walk along their village street to the family home where their ceremony will take place on Oct. 14, 2010, in Bamiyan.

Above, an Afghan bride walks with the groom to their wedding ceremony on Oct. 14, 2010, in Bamiyan.

Afghan officials say most of the flu cases have been in Kabul, Parwan and the provinces of Herat, Kandahar, Ningrahar and Bamiyan.

Bas Gul, 17, stands inside the women's shelter and safe house where she lives on Oct. 7, 2010, in Bamiyan.

"I like Afghanistan, I like Bamiyan, " Yasui explains.

Minaret and Archaeological Remains of Jam Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley Butrint

Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley

Historical and Cultural Heritage of Afghanistan Bamiyan Grotto