In Afghanistan, a few months before September 11, 2001, supreme Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar issued an edict against un-Islamic graven images, which meant all idolatrous images of humans and animals. The result was the destruction of all non-Islamic statues.
Among those were the world's largest Buddhist statues, situated at the foot of the Hindu Kush mountains of central Afghanistan. The statues stood for approximately 1,700 years.
It is said that the Taliban acted out in retaliation after requesting humanitarian aid from the international community for over a year as their country was being ravaged by drought, earthquakes, and war. However, no aid was forthcoming as long as the Taliban harbored international terrorists like Osama bin Laden. (Yeah, destroy beloved statues that have stood for centuries, you'll be sure to get humanitarian aid that way, Taliban.)
A Japanese parliamentary delegation offered aid in exchange for moving the statues out of the country and Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General, had pleaded with the Taliban's foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, to save Afghanistan's cultural heritage, but both requests were denied.
After failing to destroy the 1,700-year-old statues of Buddha with anti-aircraft and tank fire, the Taliban brought a truckload of dynamite from Kabul and drilled holes into the torsos of the two statues, placed dynamite inside the holes and boom went the Buddahs.
No comments:
Post a Comment