04/21/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09837

RECLAIMING AFGHANISTAN’S CULTURE

With the Taleban ousted from power and reconstruction underway in Afghanistan, the interim government is turning its attention to salvaging the country’s cultural heritage.

The Taleban’s legacy is one of almost total destruction. A year ago, with help from the al-Qaida terrorist network, Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar ordered the demolition of the two giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan. Carved into a mountainside above the city in the third and fifth centuries, the Buddhas were unique cultural treasures. The larger of the two, at fifty meters high, is thought to have been the world’s tallest standing Buddha. The smaller statue was thirty-five meters tall.

On a recent visit to Bamiyan, Afghan leader Hamid Karzai called the destruction of the Buddhas a "national tragedy." Mr. Karzai is exploring ways in which the statues might be restored. One plan comes from Amanulah [ah-man-OOH-lah] Haiderzad [HI-der-zahd], an Afghan sculptor who returned home this month after fleeing Afghanistan twenty-three years ago. He wants to reconstruct the sculptures within five years. But authorities say they may decide to rebuild the large Buddha and leave the smaller one in ruins as a testament to Taleban barbarity.

The Buddhas’ destruction was only one element of the Taleban assault on Afghan culture. The Taleban banned music, television, movies, and theater. In March 2001, a squad of non-Afghan al-Qaida systematically ransacked a storeroom of art works from the national museum in Kabul. Working from morning to night, the al-Qaida squad went through boxes of ancient Buddhist and Gandharan statuary, smashing anything with a human or animal image as idolatrous.

Restoring Afghanistan’s cultural heritage will be painstaking and costly. But the Afghan government has already contracted with French and Italian archaeological teams to resume excavations. Moreover, Greece, Italy, the United Nations, and private groups have pledged assistance.

Most Afghans welcome the idea of restoring the Buddhas of Bamiyan. As Haji Hussein Ali said, "This was our heritage that the stupid Taleban destroyed. It’s good that they are going to rebuild it."