Taliban’s Destruction of Ancient Buddhas Sparks Indignation in Europe

By Lucy Jones

At the beginning of March, the vow by Afghanistan’s Taliban regime to destroy all the country’s “un-Islamic” statues, including two giant 5th century Buddhas, led to a chorus of indignation in newspapers across Europe. A piece in Britain’s Observer of March 3 placed the Taliban’s “heritage terrorism” in an historical context: “Smashing images is as old as human hatred. From the Old Testament through to the Reformation, world wars, and the fall of the Soviet Union, statues have gone under the hammer,” the paper noted. In the case of the Taliban, the article posited two motivations: “One is nationalist as much as religious. It is to invent a completely new, completely untrue past for Afghanistan, in which no trace of any other religion or empire or regime apart from their own can be found.…The second motive is a mixture of revenge and reproach. The Taliban leaders are hurt by the West’s disgust with them. They know the rich West cares desperately about the archeological heritage of Afghanistan; this is a way to hit back.”

An op-ed in the March 4 Independent of London declared that the Taliban’s colorful restrictions on the country’s citizens “might have made them a bit of a joke to the rest of the world, but Afghanistan’s exports of opium and terrorism are anything but amusing.” It continued: “As an act of cultural desecration, attacking [the Bamiyan Buddhas] is on a par with demolishing Angkor Wat or the Pyramids at Giza. But one should not become so absorbed in mourning these ancient stones that one forgets what the Taliban is doing every day to the people of Afghanistan—especially the women.…You cannot expect the people of Afghanistan to worry about what the Taliban is doing to old stones when you see what it is doing to them.”

Only Muslim rebels fighting the Russians in Chechnya, the piece noted, backed the Taliban’s decision to “destroy stone idols in its country.” According to a translation provided by the BBC Monitoring Service on March 4, an “influential editor” at the Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency declared: “Without shame or remorse over its own shamelessness, the world community is hypocritically lamenting the stone idols and simultaneously giving its blessing to the Kremlin gangs’ crusade against the Muslims of the Chechen Republic.”

New Offensive in Afghanistan Promised

Ahmed Shah Masoud, leader of the anti-Taliban faction which controls the northern pocket of Afghanistan, said in an interview with London’s Sunday Times published on March 25 that a new offensive was planned against the ruling Taliban and that he has recruited former Soviet generals to his command. Masoud also opined that the worldwide condemnation of the Taliban’s destruction of statues was a blow to the Taliban movement. “They rely on help from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to preserve order. Take away this support and the Taliban will fall,” he said.

The commander also claimed that, unlike the Taliban, he believed “women should have the same rights as women in the rest of the world: the right to work, go to school and vote.” The newspaper reported, however, that the reality in Masoud’s small sphere of influence is different. Women must wear burqas to cover the face, just as they do under the Taliban. Few find the courage to work, as the social taboo is too great. Nor have elections been held.

Little Hope Seen for Improvement in Mideast Crisis

There was not an ounce of optimism regarding the Middle East crisis in the European press during March. Germany’s Der neue Tag said on March 26 that three words describe the Middle East: bombs, suicide attacks and revenge. “There is no end in sight. With Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Ramallah the violence is likely to worsen,” warned the newspaper.

Italy’s La Republicaof March 25 described the Israeli tit-for-tat bombardments as “less an act of revenge and much more an operation aimed at destroying the Palestinian military apparatus.” The paper asked, however: “What can Israel do when the kamikaze acts by Palestinians keep growing? Re-take the occupied territories? Even more economic isolation?” Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cannot do much more than his predecessor, the paper concluded.

Corriere Della Sera, also published in Italy, said on March 25 that the biggest problem is Yasser Arafat. “He is no longer a political leader. He ignored compromises in order not to appear too soft. Now he has lost control of the radical Palestinian groups,” concluded an editorial.

Germany’s Ostsee-Zeitung wrote on March 28 that Arafat is now “playing with fire” by calling for a continuation of the Palestinian uprisings. The conflict could expand into a showdown between the West and the Arab world, the paper warned.

The March 25 edition of London’s The Guardian commented that the reality is that Sharon is not prepared—and may never be prepared—to talk about the deeper reasons for the conflict. The Israeli leader wants no outside interference and U.S. President George W. Bush seems to feel the same. “This is no recipe for progress,” said the paper.

Europe Applies Heat to Israel

Israel could have a key agreement with the European Union suspended if it does not end human rights abuses and blockades of Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza, reported The Guardian on March 14. The newspaper said it had learned from unnamed sources that EU governments are considering punitive measures to underline that the policies of the new Likud prime minister, Ariel Sharon, are unacceptable. The newspaper went on to say that France is leading calls for tough diplomatic action against Israel, seeking to boost the EU’s role in a region traditionally dominated by the U.S. at a time when the new Bush administration has not made its policies clear. In a strongly worded paper on the Middle East submitted to EU governments, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine argued: “Europeans…have shrunk from making the effort needed to overcome their contradictions and apprehensions… [and] are not prepared to pay the political price of a genuine role, and have become accustomed to their role as bit players. The EU should make the U.S. recognize that it is legitimate for Europe to take its own approach to peace.”

“Dispiriting” Arab Summit

The “Summit of Accord and Agreement” that ended March 28 in Amman was intended to revive the Arab League as a political force, to which the world would have cause to listen. But according to a Times of London editorial the following day, despite the best efforts of Jordan and Egypt, the meeting served instead as a showcase for all the Middle East’s most “retrograde and self-destructive instincts.” These countries have domestic problems that cry out for attention, the paper noted, including repressive political systems, over-manned bureaucracies, atrophied economies and massive unemployment. But collectively they remain capable of uniting only in the vilification of Israel, said the newspaper. No one would imagine, it continued, that the main aim of the summit was to end Arab divisions over Iraq, by offering to press for an end to sanctions if Iraq affirmed its respect for Kuwaiti sovereignty, returned stolen Kuwaiti property and accounted for missing Kuwaiti prisoners. Kuwait agreed. Iraq did not.

Opposition Arrests in Iran

The BBC reported April 8 that as many as 40 members of Iran’s liberal opposition were arrested in the capital, Tehran, and in several other cities.

Those detained were believed to be connected with the Freedom Movement, an opposition group which is formally banned but, until recently, largely tolerated. The judiciary said those arrested were accused of attempting to overthrow the regime. Iran’s reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, expressed regret over the wave of arrests. The official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying the arrests were not in the interests of Iran’s political system and people.

These new arrests came a month after more than 20 other liberal opposition figures were detained in Tehran. BBC correspondent Jim Muir in Tehran said the harsh sentences passed on seven key pro-reform figures represented another major blow to the Iranian reformist movement and President Mohammad Khatami.

It was the latest manifestation of a hard-line backlash that has been stepped up in recent weeks, Muir reported, as Khatami ponders whether to run for a second term of office in June elections. As long ago as last July, he signaled that he would. Now, there are strong signs that he is having second thoughts. “These and other actions carry the message that—in the social arena as in politics—those hoping for a new, liberal Iran will be disappointed,” said Muir.

Bhutto Defiant Over Jail Threat

Speaking in London, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto responded defiantly to new threats by the country’s military rulers to arrest her on corruption charges if she returns to Islamabad, reported Britain’s Sunday Times on April 8. “The timing has not yet been made, but we have a window of opportunity to return and we will take it,” Bhutto said. “I have to consider the fact that if I am imprisoned, I will not be able to have contact with the people and the media. But my arrest would become an election issue in its own right.”

However, the military government of General Pervez Musharraf is unlikely to let the matter rest, said the newspaper. Raja Mohammad Bashir, head of the army-led National Accountability Bureau responsible for investigating corruption cases, said Bhutto and her husband still faced a further nine counts relating to alleged kickbacks and abuse of power. Some charges are “non-bailable”—meaning Bhutto could end up in jail.

Lucy Jones is a free-lance journalist based in London.