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A sandstorm obscures the ruins of Bost, Lashkargah, Afghanistan. 26 March 2001...The Ghaznavid winter capital of Bost prospered from the mid-11th century to the mid-12th century. It was looted by the Ghorids from what is today north-western Afghanistan and was completely razed by Ghengis Khan's cavalry in 1220...Ancient Bost, or Qala-e-Bost, was taken by early Arab conquerors around 661 (40/41 after Hijrah). The Arab traveller Ibn Haukal has left us the following description of it: “The inhabitants of Bost are polite and generous, resembling in dress and manners the people of Iraq. It is a city well supplied with provisions, fruits, and dates. They trade from the city with Hindustan.”..The Arabs' control of Bost as a stronghold from which to take the regions of Kandahar and Kabul was tenuous and intermittent as they were constantly defeated by local tribes. ..History would repeat itself in post-9/11 Afghanistan, when nearby Lashkargah, Bost's successor town and the capital of Helmand, became the epicenter of the coalition forces' bloody struggle in the south. Of the ca. 3,500 coalition casualties since the 2001 invasion, the vast majority have been Americans, British and Canadians assigned responsibility for the flashpoint province south of Kandahar...Lashkargah remains volatile to this day. A twin blast at an agricultural show killed four and wounded thirty as recently as 23 March 2019. . (KEYSTONE/VII Photo/Daniel Schwartz)