A swarming huddle of beige and tan buildings congesting a valley between the Hindu Kush mountains, the Afghan capital is determined to maintain itself as a pinnacle of trade in the region, held since its primordial Achaemenid origins. Shadowed by a fog of war, Kabul cuts through the antagonism like the stone water-channel of its glorious Gardens of Babur, fighting to regain a calm as peaceful as Lake Qargha’s waters.