From destroyers to guardians? Taliban now vow to protect Afghanistan’s ancient relics | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
June 16, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2025
From destroyers to guardians? Taliban now vow to protect Afghanistan’s ancient relics

World+Biz

TBS Report
22 April, 2025, 02:45 pm
Last modified: 22 April, 2025, 09:12 pm

Related News

  • Russia accepts Taliban's nominated ambassador to Moscow
  • Pakistan to upgrade diplomatic ties with Afghanistan in easing of tensions
  • Kabul says ready for 'dialogue' with US on Afghan refugees
  • Taliban suspends chess in Afghanistan over gambling concerns
  • Benarasi entrepreneurs demand increased support, independent cluster to save heritage

From destroyers to guardians? Taliban now vow to protect Afghanistan’s ancient relics

Experts point out that this concern does not extend to Afghanistan’s intangible heritage. Music, dance, folklore, and any artistic expression involving women remain strictly prohibited under the group’s interpretation of Islamic law

TBS Report
22 April, 2025, 02:45 pm
Last modified: 22 April, 2025, 09:12 pm
The Taliban's call to preserve Afghanistan's heritage had been met with initial scepticism following their destructive first rule. Photo: Wakil Koshar/AFP
The Taliban's call to preserve Afghanistan's heritage had been met with initial scepticism following their destructive first rule. Photo: Wakil Koshar/AFP

After gaining global notoriety for destroying the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001, the Taliban regime now claims to be championing the preservation of Afghanistan's historical and cultural heritage — including relics from pre-Islamic civilisations.

According to a report by AFP, the Taliban, even months before their 2021 return to power, had begun calling for the protection of the country's archaeological artefacts. In a statement made in February that year, they declared: "All have an obligation to robustly protect, monitor and preserve these artefacts," calling them "part of our country's history, identity and rich culture."

Since the end of decades-long conflict, fresh archaeological discoveries — many linked to Buddhism — have surfaced and are being highlighted by the Taliban authorities themselves.

In eastern Laghman province, niches carved into the rocky landscape of Gowarjan village are believed to be ancient storerooms dating back to the Kushan empire, which ruled the region 2,000 years ago. Carved Brahmi inscriptions and even a stone slab used for grape-wine production have also been unearthed in the area.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"It is said that Afghan history goes back 5,000 years — these ancient sites prove it; people lived here," Mohammed Yaqoub Ayoubi, head of the provincial culture and tourism department told AFP. 

A lack of financial resources poses a challenge to the Taliban authorities' ambitions for Afghanistan's archaeological heritage. Photo: Mohammad Faisal Naweed/AFP
A lack of financial resources poses a challenge to the Taliban authorities' ambitions for Afghanistan's archaeological heritage. Photo: Mohammad Faisal Naweed/AFP

"Whether they were Muslim or not, they had a kingdom here," he added, noting that the Taliban gives "a great deal of attention" to protecting such sites.

In nearby Ghazni, similar sentiments were echoed by the region's information and culture head, Hamidullah Nisar. 

Recently discovered Buddhist statuettes, he said, must be "protected and passed down to future generations because they are part of our history."

Such attitudes mark a dramatic shift from the Taliban's first regime, which famously razed the 1,500-year-old Bamiyan Buddhas following orders by founder Mullah Omar, dismissing international condemnation at the time.

"When they returned, people thought they would have no regard for historical sites," said Mohammed Nadir Makhawar, director of heritage preservation in Laghman, who held the position during the previous Republic. 

"But we see that they value them."

The Taliban reopened the Afghan National Museum in December 2021 — a facility they had previously ransacked — and approached the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) the following year to help preserve the Mes Aynak site, home to both Buddhist ruins and a Chinese-contracted copper mine.

"The request was unexpected," said Ajmal Maiwandi, AKTC's head in Afghanistan. 

He noted an "enthusiasm" from Taliban authorities to support the conservation efforts.

"I think the Taliban have understood how much the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas damaged their reputation," said Valery Freland, director of the ALIPH Foundation. 

"They seem concerned today with preserving material heritage in all its diversity."

However, experts point out that this concern does not extend to Afghanistan's intangible heritage. Music, dance, folklore, and any artistic expression involving women remain strictly prohibited under the group's interpretation of Islamic law.

Even as a historic synagogue in Herat city remains preserved, local authorities have discouraged media coverage of the site and of the city's former Jewish community.

Afghanistan has ratified several international heritage conventions since the Taliban's first rule, and the destruction of cultural property is now considered a war crime. 

According to an industry expert, heritage preservation now presents an opportunity to improve Afghanistan's global image and drive tourism and economic growth. However, the official warned of major hurdles — from funding constraints to the post-2021 exodus of the country's top archaeologists and heritage professionals.

Security concerns also persist. 

Niches carved into rocks in Laghman province are believed to have been storerooms dating back to the Kushan empire, which 2,000 years ago stretched from the Gobi desert to the river Ganges. Photo: Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP
Niches carved into rocks in Laghman province are believed to have been storerooms dating back to the Kushan empire, which 2,000 years ago stretched from the Gobi desert to the river Ganges. Photo: Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP

A recent militant attack targeted tourists visiting Bamiyan, raising doubts over the country's readiness for international tourism.

At the modest museum in Laghman, where Buddhist statuettes are shielded only by plastic bags and old newspapers, Ayoubi says urgent support is needed to conserve and research the artefacts, many of which were discovered in villagers' yards.

"It was discovered last year in the courtyard of a farm, among milling cows and goats," he said, pointing to a statuette depicting the face of a Buddhist goddess.

Looting remains a persistent threat, with a 2023 University of Chicago study identifying at least 30 sites still being "actively pillaged".

Despite these challenges, AKTC's Maiwandi remains "cautiously optimistic".  

"The situation in Afghanistan can change quickly," he said.

Top News

Afghanistan / Heritage / preserve / Taliban

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • BNP gears up for polls — preps ongoing from grassroots to top brass 
    BNP gears up for polls — preps ongoing from grassroots to top brass 
  • Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
    Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
  • Representational image of school children. File photo: Collected
    Govt issues urgent guidelines to educational institutes to curb Covid, dengue spread

MOST VIEWED

  • Vehicles were seen stuck on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway due to a traffic jam stretching 15 kilometres on 14 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    15km traffic jam on Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway as post-Eid rush continues
  • Tour operator Borsha Islam. Photo: Collected
    ‘Tour Expert’ admin Borsha Islam arrested over Bandarban tourist deaths
  • Infographic: TBS
    Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike
  • Fighter jet. Photo: AFP
    3 F-35 fighter jets downed, two Israeli pilots in custody, claims Iranian media
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Merger of 5 Islamic banks at final stage: BB governor
  • Infograph: TBS
    Why 10 economic zones, including BGMEA's garment park, were cancelled

Related News

  • Russia accepts Taliban's nominated ambassador to Moscow
  • Pakistan to upgrade diplomatic ties with Afghanistan in easing of tensions
  • Kabul says ready for 'dialogue' with US on Afghan refugees
  • Taliban suspends chess in Afghanistan over gambling concerns
  • Benarasi entrepreneurs demand increased support, independent cluster to save heritage

Features

Renowned authors Imdadul Haque Milon, Mohit Kamal, and poet–children’s writer Rashed Rouf seen at Current Book Centre, alongside the store's proprietor, Shahin. Photo: Collected

From ‘Screen and Culture’ to ‘Current Book House’: Chattogram’s oldest surviving bookstore

9h | Panorama
Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

2d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

4d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

5d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

5h | TBS World
Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

5h | Others
Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

6h | TBS World
Why the Strait of Hormuz is a key point of discussion in the Iran-Israel conflict

Why the Strait of Hormuz is a key point of discussion in the Iran-Israel conflict

6h | Others
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net