Afghanistan

Why it sticks

1. 1

   A landlocked country dominated by the Hindu Kush mountains; the thin Wakhan Corridor in the north-east stretches out to touch China.

2. 2

   The giant 6th-century Buddhas of Bamiyan, carved into a cliff face, were blown up by the Taliban in 2001.

3. 3

   Sitting on the old Silk Road crossroads, it earned the nickname 'graveyard of empires' after British and Soviet invasions both ended in withdrawal.

• No official Street View; only scattered user photospheres.
• Pashto and Dari signs in Perso-Arabic script; drives on the right.
• Arid brown mountains and high-walled mud-brick compounds (qalas).