[4] In the first years of the Soviet occupation several ancient sites, previously explored by French and Afghan archeologists, were ransacked by the pro-Russian government and destitute villagers.
[5] Famous for its intricate Graeco-Buddhist sculptures and reliefs, the archeological site Hadda is in Gandhara an ancient state in what is now north-eastern Afghanistan, 10 kilometers from the present day city of Jalalabad (adjacent the Khyber Pass).
These findings exemplified elements of Buddhism and Hellenism in a near perfect traditional Hellenistic style comparable to the sculptures found at the Temple of Apollo in Bassae, Greece.
The site consisted of an entire ancient town, numerous Buddhist stupas and caves decorated with elaborate stucco figures dated to the second century CE.
[6][7] The ancient site of Ai Khanoum is thought to be the historical Alexandria on the Oxus, founded in the fourth century BC as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great.
[8] The Graeco-Bactrian site stood on the left bank of the Oxus river at its meeting point with the Kokcha tributary, rendering it a strategically placed military outpost to control the eastern territories of Alexander the Great's ancient Bactria.
[8] The slow devastation of Ai Khanoum began with treasure profiteers who had metal detectors brought into the country, originally designed to seek out landmines, but were used instead to hunt the ancient soils.
Corinthian and Doric capitals unearthed by French archeologists were taken away and recycled as bases for the columns in tcha-khan while hundreds of ivory pieces, jewelry, intaglios, plaster medallions, bronze items, precious coins and statuettes have found their way to Pakistani bazaars and private collections.
[8] Historian and numismatist, Osmund Bopearachchi describes the gravity of loss: "The objects that I have seen personally in Pakistani bazaars do not represent one-tenth of the artifacts that have been dispersed in international art markets.
[4][8] A rare find in Mir Zakah, located in Pakhtia province on the Pakistan border is loosely related to the numismatic knowledge of the Greco-Bactrian era, for which Ai Khanoum provided significant insight.
[13] According to a staff member who witnessed the scene, "As they entered the storeroom, they snarled in excitement and started to smash everything while chanting 'Allahu Akbar'"[6][13] In May 1993, The National Museum was destroyed by several rockets that penetrated the roof, top floor and most of the building doors and windows.
[15] Among the initial acts of removal were dragging paintings out of homes, book burnings containing art work, public execution to TV sets and the discontinuation of music.
[16] In 1996, at the very beginning of the Taliban's rise to power, the entire card catalog archiving the art at the Afghan National Museum was burned in order to keep the rebels warm.
[2][16] In addition to the bans on tangible and visual art mediums, social and cultural expressions such as kite flying and owning pet birds were similarly forbidden.
[16] For women, an edict was issued banning make-up and high heels in the Afghan capital where the Department of Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice was installed to ensure strict compliance.
The well-coordinated and media sensationalized dynamiting of the giant Buddhas was the Taliban's outwardly dramatic expression of their quest to exterminate all "idolatrous" and unIslamic images from Afghanistan's pre-Islamic past.
[22][23] In the height of their existence, the two colossi rendered an awesome sight situated in a cliff with innumerable caves on either side of them while visible for miles with giant copper plated accents and brightly painted garments, as the statues were naturally illuminated both day and night.
[23] Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the Taliban Islamic militia in Afghanistan, dismissed the international pleas of the art and historical preservation world community with regard to saving the world-renowned Buddhas from imminent destruction.
Despite international condemnation, Mullah Omar ordered the ancient Buddhas to be destroyed per the judgment of the clergymen and the ruling of the supreme court of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban).
[15] In 2002, UNESCO was charged with the task of rehabilitating Afghanistan's scarred cultural heritage that underwent incredible loss and irreversible damage during two continuous decades of war and civil unrest.
[1] Despite ongoing operations to thwart Taliban resurgence attempts, UNESCO is entrusted by the existing Afghan government to coordinate all international efforts to aiming to safeguard and enhance Afghanistan's cultural heritage.
[1] UNESCO's strategy includes assisting in the re-establishment of links between the populations in order to develop a sense of common ownership of monuments, artifacts and historical sites that represent the cultural heritage of different segments of Afghan society.
[1] It may be argued that in the face of millions of displaced Afghans, large scale impoverishment, homelessness, unemployment and injustice, not to mention the almost total destruction of basic national infrastructure and the continued instability, factionalism and international division, cultural heritage is the least of Afghanistan's priorities.