A man passes one of the lakes of central Afghanistan’s Band-e-Amir, a series of five mineral-enriched, sapphire lakes that punctuate the dusty, travertine peaks near central Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush.

Legend has it the lakes were formed by Caliph Ali who miraculously raised the retaining walls to dam a dangerous river, thereby impressing a local pagan king who converted to Islam.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, “Afghanistan: Crossroad of Conquerors,” September 1968, National Geographic magazine)