PRESS RELEASE, 27 February 2001 - "Mullah Omar's latest instruction to destroy pre-Islamic statues in Afghanistan is unaceptable and must be reversed immediately", said the Chairman of the Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage (SPACH).

A SPACH delegation has just returned from Kabul where it met with several high officials, including Foreign Minister Muttawakil, who all assured SPACH of the cooperation by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to protect its cultural heritage. During these discussions SPACH also raised its concern about the rumors about the destruction of precious statues in Kabul Museum and urged the authorities to prevent such vandalism in future. Unfortunately, access to Kabul Museum to verify such rumors was denied to the SPACH delegation.

Kabul Museum's collection was one of the richest in the region spanning fifty millenniums of Afghan cultural history - Prehistoric, Classical, Buddhist Hindu and Islamic. After it was rocketed in 1993, factions to the Afghan war looted most of the collection. Ever since, Kabul Museum staff has been working on an inventory of the remaining collection, supported by the international community through SPACH, with the hope to eventually recover some of the looted artifacts.

At this stage, SPACH is particularly concerned about the fate of the gigantic Buddha statues in Bamiyan, surely among the most spectacular monuments Afghanistan can be proud of. Some damage has already been done: the large Buddha's face has been blackened by smoke from burning tires and the smaller Buddha has been attacked in 1998 with mortars, ripping off its head and blasting away the unique frescoes above its head.

Having noted with appreciation the many emphatic statements made so far by Mullah Omar prohibiting damage to cultural property, SPACH cannot understand this sudden change of position and strongly objects to the recent instruction to destroy pre-Islamic statues which is not based on any Islamic principle. Any further damage to Afghanistan's treasures would be a tragic and irreplaceable loss to the Afghan nation and the world at large.

SPACH herewith appeals to Mullah Omar to reverse this recent edict and protect Afghanistan's cultural heritage, as it is part of the world's heritage. Any willful damage and destruction must be prevented at all cost.