"Babur was fond of Ghazni and says somewhere that there was no other place where the white deer were so fat. There is also no other place where I have heard a pack of wolves. It was dawn, and I was standing outside the hotel looking at the desert; they were howling somewhere towards Gardez."
- Peter Levi, The Light Garden of the Angel King

Four hours' drive south of Kabul, the city and province of Ghazni was once the centre of one of Afghanistan's greatest empires. In the 11th century it was home to the Ghaznavid empire that reached from the Caspian Sea to almost as far as Calcutta. It's greatest ruler, Mahmud regularly raided Delhi, and was responsible for introducing Islam to the Subcontinent. Little now remains of glorious city of Ghazni - it ruined by the Ghorids from Central Afghanistan two centuries later, leaving little more than its walls, famous minarets and Mahmud's tomb. Genghis Khan repeated the trashing a hundred years later. The Buddhist remains at nearby Tepe Sardar that predated Islam - one of Afghanistan's most important Buddhist sites - was destroyed in the civil war.

Security
The security situation in Ghazni has remained volatile since the fall of the Taliban and the province remains extremely dangerous to visit. The Taliban remain strong in the area, and Western interests, development projects and workers (and their Afghan colleagues) have repeatedly been targeted. Roadside bombs along the Kabul-Kandahar highway that passes through Ghazni are not uncommon. As of July 2005, the Afghan NGO Security Office was advising against all non-essential travel in Ghazni. It is anticipated that anti-government violence will only increase prior to the 2005 parliamentary elections.

In the event of a calming of the situation in Ghazni, it may eventually be possible to visit the following sites:

Minarets of Ghazni
Sometimes referred to as the Towers of Victory, these two minarets sit just outside Ghazni off the road north to Kabul. Dating from the start of the 12th Century, they mark the highwater mark of Ghaznvid architecture. Octagonal in shape, they are covered with intricate brick decoration, with Koranic verses in bands at the top. Each is capped by an ungainly corrugated metal roof - the minarets originally stood much taller but suffered earthquake damage in the 19th century. The easterly minaret was built for Masud III (Mahmud's successor), the other for Bahram Shah, the last Ghaznavid sultan.

It is likely that the minarets formed the model for the Minaret of Jam (see the Central Route page).

Sultan Mahmud's Mausoleum
Ghazni's most famous resident is buried near the minarets. The mausoleum is a simple building, but inside lies a delicate carved marble tombstone, well worth a visit.

Other information
Ghazni is small enough to navigate around easily, but there is a map in Nancy Dupree's An Historical Guide to Afghanistan that remains useful.