NYer
03-19-2006, 09:00 PM
Tip of the Mets cap to LittleGreenFootballs ...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/GBA8.jpg/200px-GBA8.jpg
The Islamist Taliban government decreed that the statues, which had survived intact for over 1,500 years, were idolatrous and unislamic. In March 2001, they were destroyed despite world wide protest, including that from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. All OIC states - including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, three countries that officially recognised the Taliban government - joined the protest to spare the monuments. (http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/03/03/afghan.buddhas.03/index.html)
Today we find the Taliban had help. (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C19%5Cstory_19-3-2006_pg7_38)
The Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan were destroyed by the Taliban with the help of Pakistani and Saudi engineers.
According to an account published here on Saturday, a local Afghan told the makers of a Swiss documentary on the giant statues which had stood there, carved in the side of a mountain for hundreds of years, had been destroyed by engineers from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The dynamiting of the statues took place in March 2001. Swiss documentary filmmaker Christian Frei, who has made several documentaries that have won praise at various international film festivals, shot ‘The Giant Buddhas’ in Afghanistan. The film is due to be shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington on 26 March.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/GBA8.jpg/200px-GBA8.jpg
The Islamist Taliban government decreed that the statues, which had survived intact for over 1,500 years, were idolatrous and unislamic. In March 2001, they were destroyed despite world wide protest, including that from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. All OIC states - including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, three countries that officially recognised the Taliban government - joined the protest to spare the monuments. (http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/03/03/afghan.buddhas.03/index.html)
Today we find the Taliban had help. (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C19%5Cstory_19-3-2006_pg7_38)
The Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan were destroyed by the Taliban with the help of Pakistani and Saudi engineers.
According to an account published here on Saturday, a local Afghan told the makers of a Swiss documentary on the giant statues which had stood there, carved in the side of a mountain for hundreds of years, had been destroyed by engineers from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The dynamiting of the statues took place in March 2001. Swiss documentary filmmaker Christian Frei, who has made several documentaries that have won praise at various international film festivals, shot ‘The Giant Buddhas’ in Afghanistan. The film is due to be shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington on 26 March.