the area we today call afghanistan was actually once the wealthiest and most advanced parts of persian civilization, rich in irrigation systems, and both at the centre of global trade routes (and perhaps of global trade, itself) and a distant refuge of learning and spirituality. those bamyan statues were perhaps the last relic of what was truly greatness.

white people right?

well, the persians kinda were white at the time, actually.

it was the mongols. they slaughtered entire cities, laying waste to the whole countryside, destroying irrigation systems, raping whatever was left and leaving desolated and expanding desertification in their wake.

it was so total, that it's never been rebuilt.

to truly rebuild afghanistan would be the legacy of a god-king. and, one might hope that that is one of the upsides of the expanding chinese dominance in the region, as they no doubt remember it as it was better than anybody else.