Heritage conference draws up priorities

After two decades of fratricidal bloodshed, a three day conference co-hosted by the UN cultural organisation UNESCO and Afghanistan's Ministry of Culture and Information has prioritised the rebuilding of Kabul's shattered museum. The gathering deferred plans to rebuild the two giant Buddha statues that stood near the village of Bamiyan 200km west of Kabul since the 8th century until the Taliban destroyed them.

"After a spirited debate, the conference decided that the Bamiyan Buddhas should not be rebuilt," Martin Hadlow, UNESCO's director in the Afghan capital Kabul told IRIN on Thursday. However, the cliffs of Bamiyan and the many caves surrounding the two giant structures would be protected and restored, he added. The Buddhas were dynamited by the Taliban in March last year, considering them against Islam.

Afghanistan's interim minister of culture and information, Mukhdoom Raheen maintained that besides the Taliban, Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda was also involved in the indiscriminate act of cultural vandalism. "We believe that Al-Qaeda and other Taliban sympathisers were involved in the destruction," he told IRIN from Kabul on Wednesday.

As part of Afghanistan's reconstruction effort, about 50 international and local experts debated ways to restore Afghanistan's cultural heritage, which was devastated by years of looting, illegal excavation and arbitrary vandalism. The conference decided to restore Kabul's museum, once the best in the region but currently a shell with just a few vandalised exhibits to show for thousands of years of diverse human civilization in the region.

From the cliffs of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan to the Minaret of Jam in western Afghanistan, to the Museum of Kabul, Herat and Balk, numerous endangered archaeological sites and monuments are going to be consolidated, rehabilitated or protected. With the help of Greece, work on restoring Kabul museum, ravaged by factional fighting in early 90's, would begin as early as next week.

However, the decision to reconstruct Bamiyan Buddhas was delayed for the time being leaving the ultimate decision to the Afghan people. UNESCO goodwill ambassador, Ikuo Hirayama suggested he would prefer the statues left in ruins, a memorial to human barbarity.

Built in 12th century, the Minaret of Jam, the second highest in the world, will become a World Heritage site in June. "The committee's next meeting in Budapest, Hungary will take up the issue," Hadlow said. If included, the minaret would be the first Afghan site to make it to the prestigious global list.

Also debated was the issue of putting an end to the smuggling and illegal excavation of Afghanistan's cultural heritage. This concern was echoed by interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai when he hosted a reception for visiting dignitaries.

"We have requested UNESCO members and our neighbours particularly to look into the transportation of our archaeological artefacts," Raheen said. The smuggling and sale of Afghan artefacts is a multi-million dollar business in Pakistan and other surrounding countries.

With the rehabilitation of Afghanistan's cultural heritage, hopes have been raised about the revival of the county's tourism industry. "There is no real infrastructure such as transport and accommodation to support tourism in the country," Hadlow maintained. Experts believe that with the advent of stability, hosting foreign visitors could be a growth industry in this land where so many of the world's ancient cultures and religions met centuries ago.

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