With the return of Taliban to Afghanistan and with the country now under their control, supporters of cultural heritage are concerned for Afghanistan’s valuable historical monuments and sites.

Afghanistan is a land of valued historical monuments, as it has hosted various civilizations and religions from Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Judaism to Hinduism both before and after the rise of Islam.

“We did not expect this to happen so quickly,” said Noor Agha Noori, head of the Afghan Institute of Archaeology in Kabul. Authorities wanted to move the monuments from cities such as Herat and Kandahar to safety, but the sudden fall of the Afghan government prevented them from doing so.

Mohammad Fahim Rahimi, director of the National Museum of Afghanistan, explains: “With the Taliban taking control of Kabul, 80,000 monuments in the Afghan National Museum are now in danger, and we are also very concerned about the safety of staff and artifacts.”

The Taliban’s past actions have shown that they do not value cultural and historical heritage. In 2001, the Taliban destroyed the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues, on orders from their leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared them to be idols. The destruction of the Buddhas met disapproval by both international and local opinion.