After 1,700 years, Buddhas fall to Taliban dynamite

By Ahmed Rashid in Islamabad

12:00AM GMT 12 Mar 2001

THE world's two largest standing Buddhas - one of them 165ft high - were blown up by the Taliban in Afghanistan at the weekend.

A Buddha of Bamiyan statue stands over 150 feet high above a small town situated at the foot of the Hindu Kush mountains of central Afghanistan, prior to its destruction

After failing to destroy the 1,700-year-old sandstone statues of Buddha with anti-aircraft and tank fire, the Taliban brought a lorryload of dynamite from Kabul. A Western observer said: "They drilled holes into the torsos of the two statues and then placed dynamite charges inside the holes to blow them up."

The operation to wreck the statues carved into a cliff in the Bamiyan Valley in the Hindu Kush mountains of central Afghanistan was supervised by Mullah Obaidullah, the Taliban defence minister. There has been an international outcry since Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, issued a special edict on Feb 26 ordering the destruction of all non-Islamic statues.

Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General, had pleaded with the Taliban's foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, in Islamabad yesterday to save Afghanistan's cultural heritage. He was told that all other "moveable statues" - including more than a dozen smaller Buddha statues in the Kabul Museum - had also been destroyed.

Mr Annan, who spent half an hour with Mullah Wakil during the first leg of his South Asia tour, showed dismay and frustration while talking to reporters. He said: "They will be doing themselves a great deal of disservice and no religious leaders from the Islamic world have supported the edict. I told them you have to respect what is sacred to others."
Mr Annan added that it was "not going to be easier now to raise money" from the international community for the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan. More than one million people have been displaced by the fighting and drought. But, no government has told me categorically that they would not help the desperate people of Afghanistan."
Mullah Wakil said the work of destroying the Bamiyan cliff statues had started already, "but they are very tough ones".But his mention of steel rods and cement walls which were erected in the 1930s to bolster the back of the standing Buddhas and which are now exposed made it clear that the frontal part of the statues had been blown up.
Mullah Wakil insisted that the edict was an internal matter for Afghanistan and had been "excessively exagerrated in the outside world and the media". He said the Taliban had no intention to disrespect any other religion. "We do admit the relics were the cultural heritage of Afghanistan, but the part that contradicts our Islamic beliefs we would not like to have them any more."
Mullah Wakil said the edict had been under discussion by the Taliban authorities for more than a year and did not permit the removal of the statues to other countries - which Japan, India and New York's Metropolitan Museum had offered to do. He said the Taliban would rebuild the Kabul Museum to show off the remaining historical objects, which do not represent living things, which are forbidden according to the Taliban's harsh interpretation of Islam.
The destruction of the statues is almost certain to lead to even greater condemnation and the isolation of the Taliban by the international community. In January, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on the Taliban.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1326063/After-1700-years-Buddhas-fall-to-Taliban-dynamite.html

Afghanistan women 'still suffering horrific abuse'

Thousands of Afghan women are being failed by the country’s justice system, according to a new United Nations report, which found limited progress despite legal reforms and 11 years of Western intervention. 

 By Rob Crilly, Kabul

12:56PM GMT 11 Dec 2012

The assessment follows a spate of high-profile attacks on women and comes a day after a senior women’s rights official was shot dead.

It found that many violent attacks went unreported or unprosecuted, but concluded there had some progress in the three years since laws were introduced banning a slew of offences including rape, forced self-immolation and giving away women to settle disputes.

“Incidents of violence against women still remained largely under-reported due to cultural restraints, social norms and taboos, customary practices and religious beliefs, discrimination against women that leads to wider acceptance of violence against them, fear of social stigma and exclusion, and, at times threat to life,” said the report, titled “Still a Long Way to Go.” Billions of dollars in aid have been poured into Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted, and progress in women’s rights is frequently touted as an indicator of improving peace and democracy.

Yet the reality suggests many women still live with the daily fear of violence.

Last month police said they arrested two men in Kunduz for allegedly beheading a teenage girl after her father rejected a marriage proposal.

It came soon after four policemen were sentenced for raping an 18-year-old.
The new report describes a married 15-year-old girl who complained of being beaten but was told by prosecutors she faced prison if she did not drop the case. She was later forced to set fire to herself and died.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission recorded 4010 cases of violence against women between March and October this year, nearly twice as many as in the previous 12 months, the report said, suggesting the new Elimination of Violence against Women (EAVW) law had made it easier for cases to be reported.
Yet only a fraction of those were reported to police and in 16 provinces, where the UN was able to gather data, just 21% of 470 reports of violence against women resulted in convictions.
Jan Kubis, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, said the law could provide a firm foundation for empowering women.
“Progress in implementing the EVAW law can contribute to deterring harmful practices and violence against women in Afghanistan that have long prevented women from participating in public life and blocked their voices from being heard in decision-making and peace and reconciliation processes,” he said.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9736427/Afghanistan-women-still-suffering-horrific-abuse.html