Travel Guide Lashkar Gah

On the river Helmand, Lashkar Gah, at 700 m altitude, also called Bost, means «the place of the soldiers».Capital of the province of Helmand, it has its peak under the ghaznavide and ghôride dynasties (1226 th century), before being destroyed by Genghis Khan in. Bost was once a achaemenid city, a step between the Iranian world and the Indian world. Under the Ghaznavides, the city finds calm and prosperity and becomes the winter capital of the kings of this dynasty. Many beautiful and prestigious buildings are built at this time in the region. All are now in ruins. The city's configuration follows a classic plan: a height citadel and a town that houses the city, the bazaar and the caravanserais. Bost is located in a fertile valley, at the confluence of Helmand and Arghandab. The Lashkar Gah dam, whose construction began in 1919, is a strategic point for Afghanistan. It allows, among other things, irrigation. The Helmand River evaporates to the southwest in the Désert desert. It is a region of opium cultivation, mainly in Helmand province. Here, it is easy because poppy requires less water than wheat or cotton. Helmand took the lead in the most opium-producing provinces after Nangarhar (Jalalabad). At the time of the Taliban regime, opium production and the consumption of marijuana were prohibited in the name of the Koran. Today, international specialists are certain that opium culture finances the insurgency of Islamist insurgents. They impose taxes on narco-traffickers, in exchange for what they let them grow in peace. Lashkar Gah is connected to Kandahar by road, to the east (136 km), and to Zaranj and Hérât in the west.