The pillage of Kabul Museum

Published on 21 October 1994

Author(s): Weekend Post

Type:  Feature

Afghanistan’s National Museum, established in the 1920s and acknowledged as one of the world’s most opulent depositories, had also become a victim of fighting among the fundamentalists. After the invasion of Kabul in 1992 the corrupt and uncivilized warriors plundered the whole museum and turned its building into ashes. Many historical relics were destroyed and the precious collections of the museum lay in ruins

Following is excerpts from a write-up on the pillage of Kabul Museum published in "Weekend Post" (October 21,1994). The only point we would like to add is that the treacherous jehadi fundamentalists had only plundered and sold Kabul museum, but now their brethren Taliban are playing with the dignity and pride of our people. The jehadi and the Taliban type of fundamentalists have put Afghans to shame in front of the world.

Shifted to the idyllic settings of Darul Aman in 1931, Afghanistan’s national museum is one of the richest cultural repositories in the world, housing the most elegant antiquities from Alexandria, Ashokan, Akhamansheed, Greek, Budd-hist, Kanishkan, Zoroastrian and Muslim periods. But, unfortunately, the marathon gory drama of death and destruction in Kabul has brought in its wake such a situation that helped an international Mafia comprising hogs from a number of countries - notably Russia, Japan, India, Pakistan, UK, France and Germany- a great deal in smuggling most of the excellent artifacts out of Afghanistan.

Rumors have it that the sword of legendary Ahmad Shah Abdali Baba, stolen from Kabul Museum, was sold for a song in Peshawar: Rs.300 only, a price that should put the entire Pakhtun nation to shame. As it changed hands, the sword was sold to a cagey European businessman for six million rupees. Likewise, in the not-so-distant past, an ignoramus group of mujahideen, led by Ahmad Shah Masood, was accused of purloining most of the contents of the museum - some of them 30,000 to 50,000 years old.

Naamloze afbeelding

The mujahideen, who are no connoisseurs of arts, threw overboard the centuries-old golden principles of the ‘Ormazd’ and ‘Ahriman’ when, in 1988 invaluable vases belonging to the Zoroastrian period were pilfered from Kabul museum. A skint group of refugees sold them in Hayatabad at dirt-cheap prices. ...The trigger-happy mujahideen, after having ruined their present, and imperiled their future, are now bent upon wreaking havoc with their past glories, an act that is tantamount to cultural suicide.

The future Afghan generation are bound to curse their forefathers for selling their rich civilization and, thus, distorting their otherwise splendid history. But the present-day horror story of Kabul will make Yutozi turn in his grave. ...

The pistol of Amir Abdur Rehman and the sword of Wazir Akbar Khan, whose heroic role in the 1839 war against the British invaders, is remembered to date in Afghan folklores, are conspicuously missing from the museum. ....

Worth while among the holdings at Kabul Museum from the various periods Afghanistan witnessed were: Flake-blade industry (30,000 to 50,000 years old), a fragment of human skull with Neanderthal features (Stone age), 1800 rare artifacts from the Kushan period, a life-size statue of Kushan ruler Kanishka (128 A.D.), bronze, plaster, matrixes and glass collection (Alexandria), 17 gold and silver vessels (2500 B.C.), 21,000 gold ornaments (1st Century B.C.), paintings of Hindu and Buddhist econography, unique marble sculptures (6th Century A.D.), 5000 incomparable marble relives, bronzes, frescoes and ceramics of the Ghaznavids, ethnographic collection of 20 matchless wooden effigies from Nooristan (1895-96), Kanishkan coins with depiction of gods and goddesses, schist and limestone relief sculptures, 350 Buddhist clay-molded and stucco art pieces, Gupta art objects (7th Century) and coin collection, numbering almost 31,000 pieces (8th Century to modern times), besides large statues of war heroes, rulers and animals -- such as horses, cows, goats, elephants and lions.

It is an open secret that a 6th Century A.D. statue was sold to a farmer of Dir for Rs.700 by an Afghan refugee. The farmer struck a profitable bargain with a foreigner and pocketed a hefty sum of 7.5 million rupees from the sale of the statue. Similarly, a federal minister was recently accused of trading in statues by a religious leader belonging to Swabi (NWFP). It is relevant to note that artifacts of the said minister were seized at the Peshawar airport which were to be smuggled abroad through a third party.

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