Mazār-i-Sharīf

From the Uzbek border I got my Afghan visa in about a week. It was a day trip to the blue mosque meeting up with a facebook friend who is a local who had an uncle who drove taxi.

Mazar, is the fourth-largest city of Afghanistan, with a 2015 UN–Habitat population estimate 427,600. It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by highways with Kunduz in the east, Kabul in the southeast, Herat in the west and Termez in Uzbekistan in the north. It is about 55 km from the Uzbek border. The city also serves as one of the many tourist attractions because of its famous shrines as well as the Islamic and Hellenistic archeological sites. The ancient city of Balkh is also nearby.