Photos

Two layers of ruins:
In the background are the ruins of the Ancient city of Zohak while the foreground has the ruins left behind by the Taliban. Villages of the local Hazara farmers reduced to rubble.
Lying about 800 feet above the entrance to the Bamiyan valley in the central region of Hazarajat, lies the ruins of ancient town of Zuhak or 'The Red City'.
Tradition says it that in 1221 it was attack by the grandson of Genghis Kahn. The Hazaras successfully held the fort and the grandson was killed. In revenge Genghis Khan himself attacked the valley and destroyed everything including the irrigation systems. The Red City was never rebuild after this attack. The ancient mud walls stand only because there is little rainfall in this desert country to destroy them.
"The first level were the defensive building. The second the living quarters for the ordinary people and the top level at 1000 feet, the royal quarters. What a magnificent view the king enjoyed from his apartment. On one side the end of the Hindu Kush mountain range which continues into Chinas the Himalayan Mountains. On the other side stretches the Koh-I-Baba range on which the Red City is built. Between the two ranges the entrance to the lovely Bamiyan Valley.

On the way down we considered the people who had to carry food, water, and fuel up these cliffs every day. Perhaps they were not sorry it was destroyed."

Source: http://www.neseabirds.com/Afghanistan/Bamiyan.htm