Abstract

In March 2001 the Taliban militia, acting in accordance with a decree issued by their leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, dynamited the third sixth-century statue of Buddha at Bamiyan in Afghanistan. The statue, believed to be the world's largest Buddhist image, was one of two giant figures carved into the rock face outside the cave temples and monasteries of this once significant Silk Road centre.

The destruction of the Buddha was not an isolated incident but part of an orchestrated campaign of iconoclasm (image-breaking) in accordance with a fundamentalist Islamic belief that the creation of images of living things contravenes the will of God.

Afghanistan has a long and significant cultural history. Once known as Bactria, it came under the influence of Persian, Greek, Indian, Nomad and Islamic invaders and created an extraordinary range of art and artefacts in response to the varying influences. Since the early 1990s much of its cultural heritage has been lost to looting and violence, and what little remains is now subject to a religious decree condemning all forms of image-making from Buddhist sculpture to children's toys.

Date published: November 2001