English: Wikivoyage banner: Band-e Amir Lake, meaning “Commander’s Dam”–a reference to the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, the first imam of the Shia Muslims and the fourth Caliph of the Sunni Muslims)) refers to five lakes high in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Central Afghanistan at approximately 3000 meters elevation, west of the famous Buddhas of Bamiyan. They were created by the carbon dioxide rich water oozing out of the faults and fractures to deposit calcium carbonate precipitate in the form of travertine walls that today store the water of these lakes. Photo by Nasim Fekrat of Afghanistan.