The Taliban's 2001 bombing of the Buddha statues in Bambiyan was condemned worldwide, but the destruction of the ruins of Tyre and other ancient sites by the US and Israel has received little attention.
In early 2001, the Taliban blew up two giant sixth-century Buddha statues in the Bambiyan Valley of Afghanistan. The world was outraged by the destruction of cultural heritage, and the Western media mourned in despair over statues that most people had probably never heard of before, but which were symbols of „our common humanity.”.
Philip T. Reeker, deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said in a press release that the U.S. was „saddened and appalled” by the Taliban’s decision to destroy the statues and other ancient artifacts: „The deliberate destruction of statues and sculptural works that are held sacred by people of various faiths is incomprehensible.”
Of course, when the US launched the so-called „war on terror” that same year and bombed Afghanistan to dust, there was no similar outrage over the deliberate destruction or mass slaughter of „peoples of different religions.” But this hypocrisy is part and parcel of an imperialist mindset based on Orientalist dehumanization, selective cultural anxiety, and the weaponization of „heritage.”.
Although the dominant narrative is that the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas because they considered them idolatrous, the The New York Times In an article published on March 19, 2001, he put the events in a slightly different light. The article quoted Taliban envoy Sayed Rahmatullah Hashimi as saying that the destruction was ordered by a council of religious scholars who were angered that Europeans and other foreigners had offered money to preserve the statues but had failed to help the one million Afghans who were on the verge of starvation. „If you are destroying our future with economic sanctions, you cannot care about our heritage,” the scholars said.
War against civilization
Fast forward a quarter of a century to the 2026 war between the US and its genocidal friend Israel against Iran, and the Bambini Buddha hypocrisy comes to mind once again. Iran is home to a wealth of cultural heritage and ancient sites, many of which have been damaged in months of attacks.
But since this time it is We (the West) who are destroying, not They, no one is outraged by the loss of history—not to mention the enormous loss of life. In one of the opening blows of the war, an American cruise missile struck an elementary school in Minamata, killing more than 175 people—mostly schoolgirls. As expected, the American press was careful not to report the incident in detail until it became inevitable. Let’s talk about destroying „futures.”.
As for the destruction of the past, the Guardian quoted Mehdi Jamalinjad, the governor of Iran's Isfahan province, as saying of the US-Israeli damage: "This is a declaration of war against a civilization. An enemy that has no culture does not respect the symbols of culture. A country that has no history has no respect for the signs of history."„
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, where the US-backed Israeli military has killed more than 3,820 people in three and a half months, civilization is also under attack. One of the most prominent targets of Israel's manic bombing and scorched-earth tactics is the city of Tyre, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with a history of nearly 5,000 years.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tyre boasts a second-century Roman hippodrome, a Phoenician necropolis, coastal colonnades and countless other archaeological treasures that are now in danger of being reduced to oblivion by bombing. The 900-year-old Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, which UNESCO says is „one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the Middle East,” has also been under Israeli occupation and damaged. In the town of Shamaa, south of Tyre, a historic fortress and a shrine dedicated to St. Peter have also been targeted by Israeli attempts to destroy them.
Suffice it to say, if the situation were reversed, and Hezbollah were the one psychotically eradicating 5,000 years of cultural heritage and „common humanity,” the Western public would hear a lot more about the evil of it all. The US government would certainly express much stronger sentiments.
Destruction tourism
The Buddhas of Bambiya continue to attract considerable attention to this day. The Taliban have transformed the site into a tourist attraction: in 2021, NBC News reported that „for about $5, curious visitors can wander through the site and take photos of the giant holes in the rock face where the ancient Buddha statues once stood.”.
But it's not just the Taliban who are making money off of what they blow up. In a more morbid form of "destruction tourism," binoculars at an observation deck in the Israeli town of Sderot offer visitors, for a minimal fee, a close-up view of the Israeli destruction of the Gaza Strip. Some even bring popcorn to make the most of the trip.
Since October 2023, the US-backed genocidal war in Gaza has officially killed more than 73,000 people, although the real death toll is undoubtedly much higher.
But it is not just about murder. In Gaza and Lebanon, genocide, eco-erasure and historicid are inextricably intertwined. And while Israel, with the help of the US, continues to destroy peoples and cultures, the pretense of a common humanity is also being destroyed.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Antipropaganda.hu.
