“How the Taliban make money out of the Buddhas they destroyed”, Bitter Winter, July 21, 2023:
“My wife and I like to visit unusual places connected with religion, which for us is work in addition to pleasure. In most cases, we self-organize our travels. In others, we acknowledge that in certain places there may be risks in addition to inconveniences unless we seek the help of a specialized travel agent. There are now several whose specialty is precisely to seek the unusual, which is often connected with religion.
A week ago, I received from one of these agents an email telling me that the Taliban have now opened Afghanistan to European Union tourists. Would I be interested in an itinerary? The proposal was interesting, but what puzzled me is that a visit was offered to the Buddhas of Bamiyan, if we were willing to pay to the Taliban government the price of a special and not inexpensive ticket.
There was only one problem. There are no Buddhas of Bamiyan. Believing them to represent a “pagan” and “demonic” religion offensive to their ultra-fundamentalist idea of Islam, the Taliban smashed the sixth century CE giant statues in 2001 with artillery fire and by detonating anti-tank mines…..”
Read the full article at Bitterwinter.org
