The people of Afghanistan celebrated Earth Day by declaring Band-e-Amir its first conservation area, basically making it the country’s first national park. Band-e-Amir, which features a series of exceedingly deep-blue lakes and natural dams not seen anywhere else in the world, has suffered great neglect and damage from the state’s 30 years of warfare.
Though finances to maintain the park, including paying park rangers, is minimal to say the least, there is hope that this natural wonder could bring back tourists, preferably rich ones, who used to visit the country in the 1970s before conflict ravaged the surrounding area. “We are very poor people. If this opens a gate for the rich people to come visit, at very least we will have a chance to see what they look like,” said Sayid Abdul Jafar, a local villager.
Taking care of Band-e-Amir can also be a small scale laboratory for government policy and implementation. The US should help Afghan’s nascent federal and provincial governments in building the parkland back up to some of its prior natural beauty and even more important, keep it that way. It will be a long road before local and foreign tourists will realistically look at Afghanistan and Band-e-Amir as places to visit, but this declaration by the Afghan state puts it in position to fulfill a promise and showcase its capabilities. Let’s see how the park hold ups in the next few years.
