8am: Twenty-three years ago, the Taliban destroyed two large Buddha statues in Bamyan province. The taller statue, named Salsaal, standing at 53 meters, and the smaller one, Shahmama, at 35 meters, were carved into the mountains between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD with a distinctive style. Mullah Omar, the former Taliban supreme leader, ordered
WP: In 2001, Taliban founder Mohammad Omar declared the Buddhas false gods and announced plans to destroy them. Ignoring pleas from around the world, Taliban fighters detonated explosives and fired antiaircraft guns to smash the immense sixth-century reliefs to pieces. The attack on the treasured ancient monument stunned the international community and cemented the Taliban’s
RFE/RL: March 11 marks the anniversary of the destruction of Bamiyan’s sixth-century Buddha statues by the Taliban in 2001. According to experts, encroaching construction, negligence, and looting are endangering the status and future of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Click here to view photos (external link).
AP: The ancient Buddha statues sit in serene meditation in the caves carved into the russet cliffs of rural Afghanistan. Hundreds of meters below lies what is believed to be the world’s largest deposit of copper. Click here to read more (external link).
NBC News: Sidiq Ullah, who is a supporter of the militant group, came to see the historic site this week with friends from Kandahar, around 350 miles southwest of Bamiyan. Now that the Taliban are in control, he said, he feels free to tour the country. “I was young when these were destroyed, about 7
#Taliban fighters shooting at remnants of buddha sculptures they blew up two decades ago in 2001. #Afghanistan video via EtilaatRoz pic.twitter.com/2mRyPB8l4H — Sharif Hassan (@MSharif1990) November 1, 2021 Ron Synovitz Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 10, 2021 A video recorded recently in Afghanistan shows Taliban gunmen using the remnants of the Bamiyan Buddhas for target
In March 2001, Taliban extremists used dynamite and artillery to demolish two towering Buddha statues that had stood in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Province for nearly 1,500 years. Today, the country is still not at peace, and hopes of rebuilding the statues are stymied by prohibitive costs.
RFE/RL Gandhara March 10, 2021 Twenty years after the Taliban blew up two famous Buddha statues, Afghans commemorated the tragic loss of their historical and cultural heritage on March 9 at a ceremony in the central Bamiyan valley. In a nighttime display, one of the Buddha statues came back to life as a three-dimensional projection
Tolo News: Archeologists have made new discoveries in fourteen sites on the Tapa-e-Narenj hill in Kabul over the past eight years, Afghan archeologists said on Wednesday. All new discoveries belong to the Buddhist era . The new discoveries include several stupas, one fireplace, 24 broken statues, two complete statues, one statue of a princess and
By Freshta Jalalzai Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 7, 2020 Less than 48 hours before the Taliban signed a conditional peace agreement with the United States, I telephoned the spokesman of the Taliban’s Doha office to discuss the terms of the pending accord. “I am driving at this very moment,” Suhail Shaheen told me when I