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26 Adar 5761 - March 21, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
The Taliban Destroy Ancient Buddhist Monuments in Afghanistan
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

The Taliban, rulers of Afghanistan, blasted away and destroyed last week several monumental works of ancient art in their country: the giant standing Buddhas of Bamiyan. The world, including the world of Islamic scholarship, was outraged.

The monumental avoda zoras were carved out of a mountainside and had stood in place for centuries. The Taliban destroyed them simply because they were idols.

The Taliban movement's leaders are mostly young sons of illiterate peasants, raised on mine-strewn battlefields and refugee camps, and educated to be faithful Moslems.

The victorious Taliban were welcomed in city after city in 1995 and 1996 after a brutal period of war with Russia and among themselves. A contentious alliance of Islamic fighters, bankrolled and armed by Washington, had driven out the Soviet Army and then turned on each other and on the Afghan population. Their government was ineffectual and very violent.

None of those in power in Afghanistan has much formal, Western education, and they lack the sense of respect for ancient artifacts that underlies the Western approach to history.

The two statues were 53 meters (175 feet) and 36 meters (120 feet) high and their destruction was only accomplished over several days of work. The first is thought to have been carved into the mountain about 1,700 years ago.

There were protests from all corners, including from other Islamic countries, but that did not halt the work. After a few days, the Taliban announced that the statues were no more. The Taliban said that they were determined to destroy images deemed "offensive to Islam."

The UN, UNESCO, a delegation from the Organization of Islamic Conference and others tried to prevent or halt the destruction but they were not successful and the idols were completely demolished.

 

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