Following may be of interest
Regards
Karl Carlile (Communist Global Group)
Be free to join our communism mailing list
at http://homepage.eircom.net/~kampf/
--------
Asia Source
Special Report
Taliban: What prompted Bamiyan?
March 28, 2001



On February 26, 2001, Mullah Mohammad Omar, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban
leader, ordered the destruction of all statues in the country, including
ancient pre-Islamic figures. Thereafter, despite international pressure,
the Taliban began the demolition of thousands of artifacts, including
all the statues in the National Museum in Kabul and the two Buddha
statues in Bamiyan, the latter of which, according to UNESCO,
constituted one of the most important sites of Buddhist art in the
world. The statues, 38 and 53 meters tall, carved into a mountainside in
central Afghanistan, were built by the flourishing Buddhist Kushan
dynasty, which had grown rich from its strategic position on the Silk
Road between China and Rome. Once Islam came to the Hindu Kush, Bamiyan
fell into neglect, but nevertheless survived (despite some damage
inflicted by Aurangzeb in the 17th century, as well as by the French and
the British in the early 20th century).

The destruction of these heritage sites has raised a number of
questions, not least why it is that Mohammad Omar reversed his previous
edict (that all such monuments were to be preserved) at this time. In
fact when the Taliban captured Bamiyan three years ago, and a local
commander fired a rocket at the biggest statue, he was severely
reprimanded. Subsequently, a year or so later, Mullah Omar decreed
specifically that the Buddhas were to be protected.

The international community has unanimously expressed dismay and outrage
at the Taliban's destruction of this part of Afghanistan's cultural
heritage. Some commentators have suggested that the most useful way of
looking at this issue, and in particular this seemingly inexplicable
change of heart on the part of Mullah Mohammad Omar, is to focus on a
number of factors -- political, social and economic -- which may have
contributed to this decision.

First among these factors is the new range of UN sanctions imposed in
December 2000, sanctions which were criticized and opposed by
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, but which were nevertheless passed by the
Security Council on the initiative of the United States and Russia. The
Pakistani Foreign Minister commented that were these sanctions to be
imposed, the world would witness "one of the greatest human tragedies of
our times."

The second, and related, factor is the humanitarian crisis looming in
Afghanistan, the scale of which is truly formidable. According to the UN
Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief,
Kenzo Oshima, at least 1 million Afghans are at risk of famine. The
worst drought in memory combined with the devastating effects of over 20
years of war, have forced over 700,000 Afghans in the past year alone to
abandon their homes; the Afghans, according to the UNHCR, constitute the
largest single refugee group in the world.

Third, according to a Taliban envoy recently in the United States, the
destruction of the statues was primarily the result of an offer made by
a visiting delegation of mostly European envoys and a representative of
UNESCO of substantial sums of money to protect the Buddhas at a time
when little attention (much less financial aid) was being given to the
humanitarian crisis there. As Sayed Rahmatullah Hashimi said: "If they
can destroy our future and kill our children with sanctions, who gives
them the right to talk about our heritage?"

Fourth, ostensibly in reaction to the threat of further sanctions in
2000, Mullah Omar banned poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. The UN Drug
Control Program, as a result of a reduction in aid led by the United
States, subsequently terminated their Alternative Development project
aimed at helping the former poppy growers find other sources of income.
These poppy growers were thus left without any means of livelihood, and
the Taliban concluded from this that whatever efforts they would make to
accommodate the demands of the international community were likely to be
spurned.

Five, despite the fact that the Taliban control over 90 per cent of the
country, that it has been five years since the they took control of
Kabul, the UN still allows the former Afghan president, Burhanuddin
Rabbani, to occupy the Afghanistan seat at the UN, and only three states
(Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) have recognized
the Taliban as their country's legitimate government. Some commentators
have suggested that this has only served to alienate them further from
the international community and make them more intransigent vis-à-vis
any proposed concessions to the West.

Finally, there has also been some speculation that a combination of the
above factors (as well as the emphasis still placed on the extradition
of Osama Bin Laden, the alleged mastermind behind the bombing of US
embassies in Africa) also drowned out the voices of more conciliatory
elements within the Taliban; the same voices that made it possible for
Mullah Omar to prevent the statues being destroyed three years earlier.

Karl Carlile
Be free to visit the web site of the Global Communist  Group at
http://homepage.eircom.net/~beprepared/