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Afghan Taliban Reopen Kabul Museum
KABUL, March 22 (News Agencies) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban on Thursday allowed foreign journalists to visit the statueless Kabul museum for the first time since the demolition of "false idols."
"I can describe it as our rich, Islamic museum," said museum chief Naqibullah Ahmadyar as he showed the visitors around the almost empty, war-shattered building.
Once the home to priceless figures from Afghanistan's pre-Islamic history, the museum has been left with only a few pieces of broken pottery, wooden engravings and ceramics.
"You know what has happened to the statues - they have been destroyed according to the decree," Ahmadyar said, standing inside the main hall that used to display an ancient sitting Buddha figure.
The Buddha was among at least a dozen other figures apparently destroyed inside the museum in February before the Islamic militia's leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, ordered the destruction of sculptures to stop idolatry.
Visitors were strictly barred from the museum while the iconoclasm took place. Access to the remains of the famous Buddha statues in central Bamiyan province is still being denied.
Ahmadyar declined to reveal how many statues had been destroyed and what happened to the debris.
"After the decision was made, an authorized team came and destroyed them," he said, stressing that other pre-Islamic pieces, excluding statues, would be preserved.
"We reopened the museum for you to see that we do our utmost for the preservation of Afghanistan's cultural heritage. We keep the pieces which do not clash with Islam."
Kabul Museum was one of the richest in the region until it was closed in 1992 after mujahideen groups toppled the pro-Moscow communist regime.
On an active frontline for several years, it was subjected to merciless looting by the mujahideen fighters before the Taliban conquered the capital in 1996 and restored order with their strict version of Islamic law.
Ahmadyar said 70% of the museum's pieces were looted. Many have found their way to private collectors in neighboring Pakistan, Europe and Japan.
It was reopened for the first time in August last year, but following the latest round of officially sanctioned destruction the main attraction is a huge marble grail from the Buddhist period that has been converted into an Islamic piece with masterful calligraphy on its exterior.
Another interesting piece is an inscription in the Greek alphabet dating back to the 2nd century AD that was found in Surkh Kotal in northern Samangan province.
Afghanistan's most famous historical monuments, the two huge Buddha figures carved into cliffs in Bamiyan at least 1,500 years ago, were dynamited in line with Omar's decree, despite international protests.
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