mixture to model the face, hands and robes. The large Buddha was painted red, the smaller blue. Both had hands and a face of gold. Alongside the Buddhas were excavated dozens of caves, in which lived monks and other devotees.

Islam had arrived in Bamiyan by the 10th Century but the Buddhas remained relatively unscathed, even after Genghis Khan in 1222 stormed the valley and, in response to the killing of his grandson, killed every living thing in the valley. This destruction marked the end of Bamiyan as a key trade point for centuries but when the area slowly repopulated it did so with an increasing mix of Mongol blood – and simultaneously added Shia Islam to the region’s religions.

The people of the area became known as Hazara – and the area (known as Hazarajat) remained independent of the Afghan state until 1893. It revolted against the Afghan communist government in 1978 but then came under Soviet control until struggling free in 1981. The area was stricken with internal division until the 1990 creation of the Hizb-e Wadhat party initially led by Abdul Ali Mazari and then, after his