Cut into the face of a sandstone cliff east of the city centre, the Chehel Zina — Forty Steps — is a Mughal-era monument consisting of a carved rock chamber reached by a staircase cut directly into the cliff. An inscription in Persian records the conquests of Emperor Babur in the early 16th century. The views from the top across the flat Kandahar plain toward the Arghandab valley are excellent.
This is one of Kandahar's few genuinely accessible historical sites. The climb is short and the setting — bare rock, desert plain, blue sky — is striking. It is also sometimes called Chilzina or Chel Zina.