http://www.indian-express.com/full_story.php?content_id=6462
Sayed Salahuddin

Kharwar, July 22: But that ancient heritage is in danger of being lost
forever - a victim of the ravaging combination of destructive natural
elements and the plundering greed of treasure seekers.

The city, called Kafir Koot (Fort of the Infidel) is thought to have
flourished between the third and fifth centuries AD. Buddhism was still
the predominant faith in Afghanistan by virtue of its strategic
location on the ancient silk route - an international highway of
cultures and religions from Europe to China.

Those Buddhist roots have struggled to survive in Afghanistan, where a
combination of decades of occupation and conflict and a return to a
more fundamental interpretation of Islam have diluted the appreciation
of pre-Islamic history.

The destruction of Afghanistan's past reached its zenith last year when
the Taliban ordered that two towering statues of Buddha at Bamiyan be
blown up, on the grounds they were graven images. Despite protests from
around the world - including other Muslim countries - the Taliban also
ordered remaining pre-Islamic relics in the oft-looted Kabul museum to
be destroyed.

Many people date the downfall of the Taliban from that cultural outrage
rather than the US led war. But what the Taliban could not see they
could not destroy, and Afghan scientists and archaeologists hope that
Kafir Koot may yet yield a treasure trove of historical artefacts.

''The discovery of this town is important for us and I think for
everybody,'' Information and Cultural Minister Raheen Makhdoom said.

He said the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO) had agreed to take immediate steps to try to
protect the site from further desecration and looting, and to study it
for clues to the past. Makhdoom will travel to Japan soon to meet with
UNESCO representatives to discuss the project. (Reuters)