Ardbeg in Afghanistan

The Panjshir Valley.
Meaning 'Five Lions' in Persian. Protectors; five brothers who built a dam in the 11th Century. It's foundations for a reservoir still stand today.

The valley is beautiful, filled with walnut and mulberry groves, the river running through it, bursting with fish. There are carefully irrigated fields of wheat and maize that spread like a blanket across the valley floor. The mountains are baron and steep, scorching hot in the heat of the summer and snow-covered and often impassable in the freezing winter.

Due to it's location in Afghanistan, The Panjshir Valley has long been a centre of resistance to Afghan central governments and outside powers seeking to rule the region. Most recently and arguably the most famous is the anti-communist uprising led by Ahmad Shah Massoud who successfully used the valley as the base for his Northern Alliance during the 1979-1989 Soviet war in Afghanistan. It is clear visiting the Panjshir that the people still regard him as a hero. Today, the British Army study the military strategies used by Massoud as he is considered one of the great military tacticians.

The valley would become an important point of resistance against the Taliban when they rose to power in 1996 after the Mujahadein civil wars.