June
18
/ 2023
The Taliban are not known as being guardians of history, and for the last 20 years they have embarked on a quest to “honor” the artifacts of antiquity with sledge hammers and bombs. After turning archaeological sites into avant-garde installations of shattered dreams, the Taliban are now selling tickets to visit the ancient monuments that they demolished in 2001, in an attempt to boost Afghanistan's flagging economy. The Washington Post reported that Afghanistan’s tourist plan includes a pair of 1,400-year-old giant stone Buddhas that they turned to rubble in 2001, “in a purge of non-Islamic art.” [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"109433","attributes":{"alt":"The cash-strapped Taliban is selling tickets for tourists to visit a heritage site it destroyed - the Bamiyan Buddhas. Source: Torsten Pursche / Adobe
