"The real God is only Allah, and all other false gods should be removed." This statement from the one-eyed cleric Mullah Omar sent a chill through the international community following an edict issued by Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban regime announcing that all pre-Islamic statues in the country were to be destroyed. That edict, and the resulting destruction, has been universally condemned as "cultural terrorism."
Among the targeted relics were the Bamiyan Buddhas, two enormous 1,500-year-old statues hewn out of a cliff in the valley of Bamiyan, 140 miles northwest of the Afghan capital of Kabul, that were once one of the country's most popular tourist attractions. Destruction of the Buddhas was said to be completed by March 12. A Taliban guard has also reported that the second-century B.C. Buddhist complex in Ghazni was razed two weeks before the edict was issued. Many areas where the destruction is occurring have been sealed off to outsiders, making independent verification impossible at this time.
The Taliban seized control of much of Afghanistan in the mid-1990s and has since enforced an extreme interpretation of Islamic law. Women cannot work or attend school and are not allowed out of the house without a spouse or male relative. Music, cinema, and photography of people and animals are among the hundreds of aspects of modern life that are banned.
While the regime insists that it is simply observing Muslim law against idolatry, its actions are generally considered to be a reaction against UN sanctions implemented in January, following the regime's refusal to extradite terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. The sanctions, which include the shuttering of all Taliban offices outside Afghanistan and a ban on international travel by the Taliban leadership, are exacerbating the near-famine conditions caused by Afghanistan's worst drought in 30 years; the UN estimates that up to 600,000 Afghans have been displaced or become refugees.
International reaction to the February 26 edict was immediate, with dozens of countries, including Pakistan, the Taliban's closest ally, condemning the decision. The Taliban remained resistant, reporting that everything from anti-aircraft missiles to tank fire and dynamite were being used to destroy the Buddhas. "The statues are no big issue," Information and Culture Minister Mullah Qadradullah Jamal told reporters. "They are only objects made of mud or stone."
This Just In...
Maulavi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, who was the Taliban's governor of Bamiyan province when the fifth-century Buddha statues were blown up with dynamite and artillery in March 2001, was killed on his way to Friday prayers in Kabul, said Zulmai Khan, Kabul's deputy police chief.
Mohammadi was elected in 2005 to represent the northern province of Samangan in Afghanistan's parliament.
After he was elected, Mohammadi said he should not be held responsible for the destruction of the statues, which the Taliban considered to be idolatrous and anti-Muslim.
"It was foreigners like Chechens and Arabs with the Taliban who made the decision. They were crazy people," Mohammadi told The Associated Press at the time. "Even though I was governor, I had no power."
Well, you certainly haven't any power now.
No soup for YOU
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Labels: Bad Karma, High Horse
