That's really awesome. Nothing like visiting a place in person to get a real feel of its people and history.
One particular experience that occurred while there was when I was sent on a trip to the Canadian military base south of Kandahar. Some of those boys there took a fellow Canadian on a little tour, one of the highlights of which was a visit to the church where the Taliban originated. That had been mentioned in a chapter of the book I had read the night before. If ever I felt a shiver go through me it was then.