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"Have you met with Ahmed Shah Massoud (commander of the United Front)?" I asked. "Oh yes, we have met several times. Massoud was one of the most generous financial donors to (the Afghan Museum in Switzerland). Also King Zahir Shah has been very helpful." "Why you? Why are you trusted as the keeper of Afghan's heritage?" "I
have been working on Afghanistan research for thirty-five years. All sides
trust me. This is because I am working without any financial or political
goals." "How do the Afghan's view the reconstruction of the statues?" "The reconstruction is viewed as a political priority - a symbol to show that they have
completely gotten rid of the the Taliban and al-Qaeda influence - a bridge to show that there is a priority over religious or ethnic differences...you know there are no Buddhists in Afghanistan today; it is a symbol of complete tolerance." "What's more important, the Bamiyan buddhas or the looted artifacts?" I asked. Bucherer laughed, "this is like bread and water. Which would you rather have? You cannot have one and not the other." Pasadena, California I phoned David Kamansky, Director General of the Pacific Asia Museum and founding member of 'ICSCHA'. "I have heard stories about your run-in with the Begram ivories?" I said. "Yes, I was in a fine arts dealer shop in London. It was a shop of Asian art. This man walked in while I was standing there, saying that he had something to offer the dealer, and wondered if I would like to take a look at it. It was immediately recognizable as fragments of the Begram ivories, a masterpiece; the Mona Lisa of archaeology. These fragments were wrapped in tissue paper. Tissue paper!" "He was asking two hundred thousand dollars. My first thought was to save the money and buy it. The Mustamandy's were trying to raise the money from King Zahir Shah, but he was focused on putting the funds towards the people, which was the priority at the time." I asked, "but why does it seem that everybody has to commit to buying the pieces back? What about prosecution?" "If our government called this cultural terrorism, the looting and stealing could be seized in the United States." |
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