Bamyan Province in the context of "Parwan Province"

Bamyan (Pashto, Dari: بامیان), also spelled Bamian or Bamiyan, is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Its population of approximately 100,000 people makes it the largest city in the Hazarajat region of Afghanistan. Bamyan is at an altitude of about 8,366 feet (2,550 m) above sea level. The Bamyan Airport is located in the middle of the city. The driving distance between Bamyan and Kabul in the southeast is approximately 180 kilometres (110 mi). The Band-e-Amir National Park is to the west, about a half-hour drive from the city of Bamyan.

Bamyan is referred to by some as the "Shining Light" and "Valley of Gods". There are several tourist attractions near the city, including the destroyed Buddhas of Bamyan, which were carved into cliffs on the north side of Bamyan city in the 3rd to 5th centuries CE, dating them to the pre-Islamic Hephthalite rule. They were part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and were tragically destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Other attractions close to the city include Shahr-e Gholghola and Zuhak. In 2008, in a maze of caves in the Bamiyan Valley were found the world's oldest oil paintings. At the end of the 10th century, there was a Buddhist culture in which several thousand Buddhist monks lived in caves carved into the mountain. The 53 meters known as the Salsal and 35 meters known as Shahmama were the high-standing Buddha statues and best-known monuments left by the Buddhists, which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Furthermore, there are several cultural sites left from both the Buddhist and the later Islamic era of the valley. While the Taliban were out of power from 2002 to 2021, considerable efforts were made to preserve the cultural monuments in the valley. The city of Bamyan has four districts and a total land area of 3,539 hectares. The total number of dwellings in this city is 4,435.

Ghazni (Pashto: غزني, Pashto pronunciation: [ɣaz.ni]; Dari: غزنی, Dari pronunciation: [ɣäz.níː]), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in southeastern Afghanistan. The province contains 19 districts, encompassing over a thousand villages and roughly 1.3 million people, making it the 5th most populous province. The city of Ghazni serves as the capital. It lies on the important Kabul–Kandahar Highway, and has historically functioned as an important trade center. The Ghazni Airport is located next to the city of Ghazni and provides limited domestic flights to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

Ghazni borders the provinces of Maidan Wardak, Logar, Paktia, Paktika, Zabul, Uruzgan, Daykundi and Bamyan.

Sar-e-Pol (Pashto, Dari: سر پل; lit. 'bridge head'), also spelled Sari Pul, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It borders Ghor and Bamyan to the south, Samangan to the east, Balkh and Jowzjan to the north, and Faryab to the west. The province is divided into 7 districts and contains 896 villages. It has a population of about 632,000, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a tribal society. The province was created in 1988 with the support of northern Afghan politician Sayed Nasim Mihanparast. The city of Sar-e-Pol serves as the provincial capital.

The Balkh River (Persian: دریای بلخاب; Pashto: د بلخ سیند) or Balkhab, also known in its upper reaches as the Band-e Amir River, is a river in northern Afghanistan.

The river rises in the Band-e Amir lakes in Bamyan Province in the Hindu Kush. The river flows west, then north, and terminates in irrigation canals in the area of the cities of Balkh and Mazar-e Sharif or in the desert. In times of exceptional flood the river drains into the lowlands of Turkmenistan. In ancient times the river terminated in a delta at the Amu Darya, but has not reached that river since irrigation canals were developed centuries ago.

A random checkpoint is a military and police tactic. In a military context, checkpoints involve the setup of a hasty roadblock by mobile truck- or armored vehicle-mounted infantry to disrupt unauthorized or unwanted movement or military activity and to check for valid identification and search for contraband, fugitives, or weapons that are not permitted in civilian hands. Random checkpoints are set up to achieve surprise, as opposed to known permanently located checkpoints, which suspects could avoid. They are often established in locations where they cannot be observed by approaching traffic until it is too late to withdraw and escape without being observed.

Patrol car-equipped police units regularly use random checkpoints to detect drivers who are suspected of impaired driving. Police also use hastily set up roadblocks to check cars and car trunks when they are pursuing an armed and dangerous fugitive. As with military checkpoints, sobriety checkpoints and fugitive roadblock searches are located in an area where drivers cannot see the checkpoint until it is too late to withdraw, and checkpoints are only set up on a temporary basis.

Hazarajat (Dari: هزاره‌جات), also known as Hazaristan (Dari: هزارستان), is a mostly mountainous region in the central highlands of Afghanistan, among the Kuh-e Baba mountains in the western extremities of the Hindu Kush. It is the homeland of the Hazara people, who make up the majority of its population. Hazarajat denotes an ethnic and religious zone.

Hazarajat is primarily made up of the provinces of Bamyan, Daikundi, Ghazni, large parts of Ghor, and Maidan Wardak, and small parts of Sar-e-Pol, Balkh, Samangan, Uruzgan, and Parwan. The most populous towns in Hazarajat are Bamyan, Yakawlang (Bamyan), Nili (Daikundi), Lal wa Sarjangal (Ghor), Sang-e-Masha (Ghazni), Gizab (Daikundi) and Behsud (Maidan Wardak). The Kabul, Arghandab, Helmand, Farah, Hari, Murghab, Balkh, and Kunduz rivers originate from Hazarajat.

Bamyan Airport (IATA: BIN, ICAO: OABN), officially named Shahid Mazari Airport, is located in the city of Bamyan, which is the capital of Bamyan Province in Afghanistan. It is a domestic airport under the country's Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MoTCA), and serves the population of Bamyan Province. Security in and around the airport is provided by the Afghan National Security Forces.

The airport sits at an elevation of 8,415 feet (2,565 m) above mean sea level. It has an asphalt runway measuring 7,217 by 98 feet (2,200 m × 30 m). The airport has been expanded and improved from its previous pre-2014 condition. Its official name is in honor of Abdul Ali Mazari, the founder of the Hezbe Wahdat political party in Afghanistan.