Time check

Reconstructing the shared past that struggles to show itself in Afghanistan

Jyoti Atwal Delhi

Sometime in March 2001, two giant Buddhas carved into a cliff centuries ago were destroyed at Bamiyan, Afghanistan. At 53 metres (175 feet) and 36 metres (120 feet), the statues were the tallest standing Buddhas in the world. Blasting them was no easy task, earning the Taliban the dubious distinction of being engaged in one of the most violent acts of repudiation of the past in contemporary times. The footage filmed by the Taliban was shown repeatedly around the world on TV sets by a shocked media. Though dramatic, it was by no means the first destruction of Afghanistan’s historical legacy.

Before this incident, the anti-Soviet war and factional wars had destroyed much of the archaeological sites and monuments of Afghanistan’s Islamic and non-Islamic heritage. During the factional wars between 1992 and 1996, two rockets were accurately aimed at the Kabul Museum at Darulaman near Kabul that had been established in 1931. Much of its rich Central Asian collection, spanning over thousands of years, was damaged or irretrievably destroyed. Items such as ceramics, glass, gold and wines were shipped eastwards from Rome and Alexandria and in return there was a westward movement of ivories, spices and gems from India and silks from the Han dynasty. According to the curator of the museum, there must have been specialists showing the mujahidin what to rob. There were thousands of books in the museum library. Most of the mujahidin could not read; yet all the books with illustrations of the museum’s best pieces were looted. The museum also lost the precious Bagram treasure of the Kushan dynasty, which was unearthed by the French archaeologists in 1939. Lack of stability and the presence of the drug war lords in Eastern Afghanistan proved devastating for Hadda, near Jalalabad in the east. It had thousands of stone and stucco Buddhist stupas, which were all destroyed after the Russian bombing  the 1980s when they were hunting for mujahidin hiding there. Beyond repair, this damage has been done forever.

The print media in and outside Afghanistan has been reflecting on the lack of a “national” consciousness amongst the Afghans, who are a collection of tribes. Notions of an Afghan identity are germinating in the religious-cultural domain rather than the political one. The Bamiyan incident projected Taliban’s systemic promotion of a monolithic view of history by eroding the non-Islamic symbols of Afghanistan’s past. The Persian, Sino-Siberian, Hellenistic, Roman, Indian, Turkish, Arab and Mongolian presence in this region makes Afghanistan’s past a shared past rather than just an Islamic one. At present, Afghan authorities in collaboration with foreign experts and agencies are making efforts to restore and reconstruct this shared historical legacy. There are many challenges to this restoration. Bamiyan in 2003 was declared as a World Heritage Site, the issue of rebuilding is being debated at present. The question of ensuring security of the restoration crew remains on the top. In 2002, at a conference in Kabul the Afghan authorities along with the UNESCO decided that rebuilding was not a priority and the task would involve US$ 30-50 million. The director of the Bibiotheca Afghanica museum in Switzerland has been arguing in favour of reconstruction. Nancy Dupree, an authority on cultural history of Afghanistan, has apprehensions that the Bamiyan Buddhas will become a “fun park” after reconstruction. Tourists flock into Bamiyan in any case. Besides the availability funds for reconstruction, the ethical debate is still on.