Afghanistan

A 160-hectare highland valley in central Afghanistan famous for two enormous Buddha niches carved into the sandstone cliff in the 3rd–6th centuries CE; both statues were destroyed in 2001 and the empty niches now form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Afghanistan's first national park, established in 2009, encompassing six deep-blue travertine lakes at 2,900 metres altitude in the Hindu Kush, formed by natural calcium carbonate dams and associated with the legendary resting place of Imam Ali.

A fifteenth-century Timurid mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif renowned for its extensive cobalt and turquoise tilework covering approximately 8,200 square metres; also known as the Hazrat Sultan Mosque, it is one of Central Asia's most visually striking religious monuments.

A 5.8-hectare terraced hillside garden on Kabul's northeastern edge, established by the Mughal emperor Babur in the early 1500s, restored 2008–2013, containing Babur's tomb and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A 3,300-year-old mud-brick fortress in the heart of Herat, rebuilt by successive empires and restored in the 2000s, offering layered archaeology and panoramic views over western Afghanistan's cultural capital.

A 65-metre Ghurid minaret of baked brick and glazed tilework built in 1194, standing in a remote river valley in Ghor Province; it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List in Danger since 2002 due to seismic damage.