☰
Afghanistan's extreme geography attracts extreme sports
PANJSHIR: On a recent sunny morning in northern Afghanistan, excited children and bemused policemen lined the banks of a fast-flowing river to watch a group of Europeans in multicolored kayaks navigate the white water. A drone-mounted camera also followed the kayakers' progress, buzzing and hovering above them like a mosquito.
The boys, who were on their way to school, squealed and raced along the rocks as they watched the unusual spectacle — no kayakers had ever come to the peaceful Panjshir Valley, some 140km north of the Afghan capital, Kabul.