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The Looting & Destruction
of Afghan Cultural Heritage
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Afghan
Cultural Heritage Under Fire
Complete
coverage of events by the Online Center of Afghan Studies. World
Reactions, History, Chronology of events, pictures
New:
History of Buddhism and Statues of Buddha in Afghanistan
A brief history of Buddhism in
Afghanistan. Who build the massive Buddha statues and what were
they called through the Afghan history.
By Farid
Maiwandi, Member Afghan
Studies Editorial Board, March 24, 2001
2001: Buddha
Destroyed by Taliban
Click on the picture to see
more photos by cnn.com
1992-4: Kabul Museum Looted
by Northern Alliance
Click on the picture to see
related story by The
Guardian
To keep abreast with the latest
development of this unfolding tragedy, please join the
Afghan
Studies Listserver
A
Communiqué
By The Online Center of Afghan Studies Regarding the Destruction of Afghan Archeological Treasures
Dated: Feb 28, 2001
GEOPOLITICS OF AN AFGHAN SETTLEMENT
The road to an Afghan political settlement must proceed through two
challenging rings:
an inner ring of conflict among Afghans, plus an outer ring of nations maneuvering for influence against each other inside Afghanistan.
The two rings overlap. External powers use Afghan factions as surrogates
to serve their own competing objectives in the region. This essay will
concentrate on the outer ring, examining the geopolitical incentives and
disincentives motivating outside powers to promote - or to prevent - an
Afghan political settlement.
By Peter Tomsen, former American Special Envoy to the Afghan
Resistance. He is at present Ambassador in Residence, University of
Nebraska at Omaha.
Published in Perceptions,
Journal of International Affairs, December 2000-February 2001 Volume V
- Number 4.
See also our section Strategic
Studies
War. ICRC/By
Till
Mayer.
Pakistan,
The Middle East, and Central Asia
For Pakistan, the Muslim Middle East and Central Asia represent
the hope of strategic
depth, an identity outside of its competition with India,
and a hoped-for source of both energy supply and economic support.
Pakistan's strong relations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates are built on common interests, shared objectives in the
region, and personal ties to the rulers. Afghanistan,
once a common cause across the Muslim world, has become the
principal problem area in Pakistan's relations with Iran, once a
major strategic connection, and its newer ties with Central Asia.
The South
Asia Monitor is a monthly newsletter by CSIS
(Center for Strategic and International Studies)
focusing on key issues and trends in the region. By Melissa
Iqbal and Teresita
C. Schaffer February 01, 2001
Afghanistan,
the Taliban and the United States The
Role of Human Rights In Western Foreign Policy.
This paper purports to concisely review the scale and
nature of the current crisis in Afghanistan in its historical context,
with the view to comprehend whether Western – particularly American
– foreign policy toward Afghanistan has been formulated on the basis
of humanitarian principles or not. By briefly analysing the extent of
the catastrophe that continues to devastate the Afghan people to this
day, and by uncovering its historical causes and contemporary
geopolitical/strategic context, the paper outlines the responsibility of
the international community for the ongoing war in the country.
By Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, January 12, 2001.
The civil war in
Afghanistan is a microcosm of the post-Cold War multilateral competition
for influence in unsettled regions. The Afghan conflict involves
internal armed factions with extensive foreign links, neighboring states
that pursue competing strategic interests, and ultra-regional players
who have ideological, security, or economic stakes in the chaos. With no
central authority in Afghanistan, neighboring countries further their
policies by engaging and supporting rival Afghan factions, thus fueling
the internal strife and blocking the emergence of a broad-based
legitimate government in Afghanistan. The turmoil is both the cause and
consequence of state failure in the war-torn country.
By Ali A. Jalali, From Parameters,
Spring 2001, pp. 85-98.
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| The
Human Factor of Afghan Proxy War |
Jalozai
Refugee Camp: Pakistan's Concentration Camp for Stranded Afghans
The
Road of Last Resort
Broken by war and drought, Afghans take flight in
effort to survive.
Front Page Story on the Washington Post,
Sunday March 18, 2001
For a FLASH Pictorial of this unfolding
Tragedy click here
or on the image below.
Afghan Mother Pleading with a Pakistani
Soldier.
Wrapped in plastic, the rejected wait to die
The Guardian
gains access to the Afghans' grim refugee camp which the
Pakistani authorities kept from the eyes of the UN secretary
general.
"Pakistan has also barred aid agencies
from helping the 80,000 Afghans here."
To the few who do see the camp the
reality is overwhelming: Jalozai is filled with the
dying.Attached to the blue canvas wall of one of its three
overworked medical clinics hangs a sign in neat Pashtu and
Persian script : "Equipment
for digging graves and making coffins is available in this
hospital."
Rory
McCarthy in Jalozai
Friday March 16, 2001
The Guardian
Pakistan keeps Annan from
Visiting the Jalozai Refugee Camp
UN
officials suspect the Pakistani government was afraid that
the many journalists accompanying Mr Annan would focus on its
harsh treatment of the refugees.
The
Guardian, March 13, 2001
The
Famine the World Forgot
Caught between
war and natural disaster, refugees from Afghanistan's endless
infighting now find themselves further trapped by a relentless
winter and an aid drought.
A Photo Essay by Time.com
Photographs by Alexandra Boulat/Cosmos
Click on the Image to See the
Photo Essay
The
Blue Children of Mazar
Drought
and cold winter dramatically claims lives of Afghans who have been
able to seek refuge in Internally Displaced Camps in different
parts of Afghanistan. A UN humanitarian worker has talked on
January 29 from Mazar-e-Sharif on the condition of some
families in these camps. He tells us about the smell of
death and devastation and he tells us about the hopelessness of
the victims and the need for urgent help. He tells us about
the BLUE
CHILDREN he has seen in Mazar camp 65 buildings 1,2,
and 3. Yet another report from Herat tells us that
about 504 people who
froze to death last week between Monday to Thursday.
Do the warmongers in Afghanistan care?
By
Dr.Rauf Roashan, 01/02/2001
Also
See Our Baynawayan
Section Which Offers a Coverage of this Still Unfolding
Tragedy
Hell on Earth:
Afghanistan
So what is the case for "the story" in Afghanistan?
Does it merit the world's attention? The UN has given this
country the dubious distinction of being "one
of the most difficult on the planet to survive in".
Decades of military
occupation and civil war, compounded by natural disasters, have
traumatised its 20 million inhabitants.
BBC, by Matt Frei who is a BBC foreign
correspondent, 20 February 2001
New: When
Ants Grow Wings
Abstract:
It is a Kabuli saying that when it is time for the ants to
vanish (within their lifecycle) they grow wings. This is a
referral to the process of ant reproduction and the fact that
the male ants toward the end of their life cycle grow wings, fly
in the air, and mate with the queen, who then lays eggs afresh.
But the winged ants die out. With the recent decision
Taleban leadership and movement do resemble ants with wings that
have left their turf on the ground and taken to fly higher than
their customary realm. This also seems as the beginning of
the end of Taleban administration already alienated from the
nation and the world at large.
Weekly
Commentary by Dr.Rauf Roashan, See Country
Corner for more commentaries by Dr.Roashan, 3/9/2001
The
Tragedy of the Afghan People and the Political Doctrine cum
Diplomatic Philosophy of the New U.S. Administration
Doctor Noor Ali, the former Afghan commerce minister
(1965-69), has submitted to the concerned authorities of the
United States government a number of analytical papers about the
"Situation in Afghanistan". We have the most recent of
these letters addressed to U.S. Secretary of State, General
Colin L. Powell.
By Doctor Noor ALi, Date, February 15, 2001
See other papers, in the same series, by Doctor
Noor Ali under our Country Corner page.
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