Beautiful lakes in Afghanistan have been abandoned by tourists

The Band-e Amir National Park, once a popular tourist spot, has not received a single guest since the Taliban took over last year. — Reuters

The winter landscape around the deep, blue mountain lakes of Band-e-Amir in the central Afghan province of Bamiyan presents an arresting spectacle empty of people – but the absence of visitors is costing locals dearly.

After two decades of war and facing its worst economic crisis, the collapse of Afghanistan’s vestigial tourism industry might almost go unnoticed.