The sudden return of the Taliban to power in August 2021 has renewed cultural preservation experts’ concerns about preserving Afghanistan’s rich cultural heritage. In 2001, the regime destroyed a giant 1,400-year-old Buddha statue in Bamiyan, denouncing it as “idolatry.” Their destruction caused an uproar around the world, but little has been done to curb the group’s destructive actions. The Taliban, who were ousted in 2001, returned to power in 2021 and are now declaring support for cultural heritage, perhaps in response to the global outcry over the destruction of Bamiyan Buddha statues. However, many people wonder if the Taliban are real. There are further questions about whether they will be able to maintain their professed commitment to cultural heritage, especially since vital international humanitarian aid to support Afghanistan has been withheld as punishment for the Taliban’s violations of women’s rights. .
The stakes of this challenge are high. As a historical crossroads between the civilizations of the Near East, South Asia, China, and Central Asia, Afghanistan is home to countless archaeological treasures. However, many artifacts have been lost, stolen, or destroyed in past conflicts, particularly the 1993 looting of Kabul’s National Museum of Afghanistan. More than two years into their latest rule, the Taliban have found themselves responsible for protecting an invaluable and fragile cultural heritage. Whether or not they support conservation efforts will determine whether Afghanistan’s existing and remarkable heritage survives.
History of heritage loss
The Taliban’s dynamite attack on the Bamiyan Buddhas is just one of many examples of cultural loss in Afghanistan’s history. In the 1960s, French archaeologists used bulldozers to excavate the ancient Greek city of Ai Khanum, causing irreparable damage. In 1989, Russia ended its ten-year occupation of Afghanistan. When that army retreated, a civil war broke out. During the conflict in 1993, a bomb aimed at the Ministry of Defense hit an unintended target across the road: the National Museum of Afghanistan. This opened the walls to looters, who over the next few months removed the museum’s collection, including ancient statues, the famous Begram ivory, thousands of plaques and figures carved from ivory and bone. An estimated 70 percent was stolen.
The loss of cultural heritage continues today. In April 2023, a report revealed that Dilberzin, the largest ancient city in northern Afghanistan, had been systematically looted on a large scale between 2019 and 2021. There have also been reports of looting and illegal excavations in the Bamiyan Valley, where the Bamiyan Buddhas were enshrined. .
In 2022, two cave excavations were carried out in the Bamiyan Valley that may hold a rich cultural heritage. Although the direct culprit has not been found, many suspect that he was a professional international smuggler. The perpetrators appeared to be well versed in excavation techniques and were well aware of the location of the cave and its surroundings. These excavations were carried out without authorization. Bamyan Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and all excavations in the area require prior approval from the UNESCO World Heritage Center. These professional excavators transported looted artifacts to museums around the world, from Paris to San Francisco. International demand for these treasures continues to drive excavations.
In a context of looting, excavation, and loss, the Taliban has seized power and assumed the responsibility of protecting Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. The dire state of Afghanistan’s conservation environment makes their work even more difficult and important.
Real commitment?
The question of whether the Taliban will actually fulfill their promise to preserve cultural heritage is very difficult to answer. Afghanistan has laws in place that emphasize the need for heritage protection and require the government to play a role in these efforts. Afghanistan’s constitution stipulates that both the government and the people are responsible for protecting cultural heritage. It further stipulates that all artefacts, known or unknown, on Afghan soil are the property of the government and therefore transferring artefacts without government permission is theft. Afghanistan’s penal code also criminalizes many acts related to cultural heritage, such as failing to notify authorities of new discoveries and damaging monuments. These statutory laws criminalize the plundering of heritage sites and oblige the government to enforce the necessary penalties.
It is unclear whether the Taliban will enforce these laws. Constitutional amendments regarding the preservation of cultural heritage were introduced in 2004, before the Taliban were in power. Nevertheless, the Taliban profess to abide by these laws in principle. “Cultural heritage is a national priority,” said Malawi Atiqullah Azizi, the Taliban’s deputy minister of culture and arts. The Taliban also claimed to invest 1-2 percent of GDP in a heritage fund if foreign capital for heritage preservation is insufficient. For context, a similar fund, the National Endowment for the Arts in the United States, received about 0.012 percent of the country’s GDP in 2020. Although the absolute amount of the US investment is much larger than the Taliban’s proposed investment, it is noteworthy that the Taliban has said it will invest.
The Taliban may also be using cultural heritage to enhance their reputation abroad. Since the Taliban returned to power, many countries have cut off much foreign aid. Supporting culture not only brings in funds to preserve heritage, it also reframes the Taliban in a more benign light, helping Afghanistan’s mining sector and NGOs help feed many hungry Afghans. , could also encourage foreign investment in other sectors. This strategy is not new. For example, investment in the arts has exploded in Saudi Arabia, with numerous cultural events including the 3rd International Film Festival, a concert rave in the middle of the desert, and an Andy Warhol exhibition at the Malaya Concert Hall. is providing funding. The world’s largest mirrored building. This investment in culture has led some to admire the burgeoning arts scene and, implicitly, the government that funded it. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia doesn’t need the kind of money the Taliban do, but Saudi Arabia’s investment in art shows how cultural heritage can improve the Taliban’s reputation and, in turn, improve foreign aid flowing into the country. It shows that.
However, in Saudi Arabia, and also in Afghanistan, support for the arts and cultural heritage is growing, with many saying that these promises are empty and that these regimes are simply falsely claiming support for cultural heritage to boost their reputations. You should be warned by the real possibility. In the case of Saudi Arabia, despite its growing arts scene, the government is most notorious for committing countless human rights abuses. Some human rights organizations believe that the government’s support for the arts is not genuine, but rather an attempt to distract from its poor human rights record, including restrictions on freedom of expression, mistreatment of migrant workers, and declining women’s rights. We believe that this is the case.
After all, it is difficult to know whether the Taliban’s professed support for cultural heritage is genuine. However, what cannot be denied is that even if the Taliban really wanted to preserve cultural heritage, they may not have the means to do so.
financing problems
It is difficult to put a price tag on preserving Afghanistan’s heritage. But it’s clear the Taliban are short on money. Until the Taliban was ousted in 2001, 80% of the Taliban’s budget was covered by foreign aid. Since then, foreign aid has plummeted. Humanitarian aid is down 75% in 2023 so far compared to last year. The UN’s annual budget for aid to Afghanistan fell from US$4.6 billion to US$3.2 billion over the same period. To be sure, there are some signs that foreign investors still want to support Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. Swiss foundation Arif recently donated US$1 million to the Aga Khan Cultural Trust to help preserve the 2,000-year-old Buddhist city of Mes Aynak, which mining companies are trying to destroy to access valuable minerals underground. did.
But this investment seems more like an outlier than part of a trend. In 2022, the Taliban submitted an application to inscribe Bage Babur Gardens on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. A successful attempt could secure financial assistance from the United Nations to preserve the historic site. But UNESCO did not respond. For the United Nations and many other potential donors, the Taliban’s rights violations are too serious to ignore, and supporting cultural heritage appears to be akin to condoning rights violations for most international organizations. . The regime excludes women from secondary schools and many public spaces. It stipulates punishments for acts such as robbery and kidnapping. The moral cost of investing in such government seems too high for many. Furthermore, funding for cultural heritage will feel somewhat less urgent. For example, is it right to invest in monuments when women cannot go to public parks? Cultural heritage is invaluable to the identity of countries, but the humanitarian crisis at hand is critical. , it’s getting worse.
Thinking this way, it becomes difficult to understand how the Taliban can fund conservation efforts, despite their importance. If their public support for preservation, real or not, can persuade more foreign aid organizations to donate, there may be hope for Afghanistan’s rich cultural heritage. But so far, these efforts have failed due to the Taliban’s strict social rules. At present, it appears that only after these restrictions are lifted will organizations consider funding the preservation of cultural heritage in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.