Afghanistan's Buddhist Buried Treasure Faces Destruction

 

In 2001, the Taliban blew up two huge 6th century Buddhas that were built into the sandstone cliff face of the Bamiyan valley in central Afghanistan. Now, Afghanistan is threatening another Buddhist  heritage, Mes Aynak, which, according to The Guardian, "is a magnificent Buddhist city, and the most important archaeological discovery in a generation."  That's because the ancient city sits atop a vast copper deposit.  The photograph below shows the remains of statutes found at Mes Aynak.

William Dalrymple, whose most recent book was the Last Mughal, wrote the story and outlines the dispute between China's copper companies and French and British archaeologists.