Inside Afghanistan: Searching For Lost Buddhas In The Bamiyan Valley | Timeline

This is a place with few travelers willing to set foot in a place that has been locked in bloody conflict for more than 20 years, but beyond the conflict is a land of extraordinary beauty, a place that was once the source of one of the beliefs oldest in the world for me. It is a special journey to a hidden

valley

deep within this strictly Islamic land as I search for the gigantic relics of a much older faith. The Lost Buddhas of Afghanistan. This is an image from Afghanistan you've probably never seen. It is an ancient kingdom of extraordinary culture. landscape and people my name is David Adams I am a photojournalist who specializes in traveling to the ends of the earth and that is one of the reasons why I am here because hidden in the remote Bamian Valley lies one of the unknown wonders of the world. world. some of the oldest images of gigantic Buddha statues that few Westerners have ever seen.

This was the place where I remembered a country torn apart by war five years ago. I was here as a freelance war correspondent. The front line is in that direction and there are militias. firing one over my position on the other side of the city but I knew that beyond the bombs and intolerance there was a hidden treasure a place from where an ancient religion brought its Creed to the world I swore that one day I would search for Bamian and it is

lost

The Buda Afghanistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia sandwiched between Pakistan and Iran from the capital Kabul.

I head to your ad and then go up to mazar-e-sharif and then to Bamian. My journey begins in Pakistan at a point where most people see Afghanistan for the first and only time. It is on a road busy with armies, smugglers and spies. The Khyber Pass. A bus takes me on the first leg of my trip and for the first 40 miles we pass through the tribal area. by autonomous chiefs as a westerner I must carry an armed guard because kidnapping and banditry come here then a familiar sight five years ago I remember passing by this burnt tank it is still here we just crossed the border into Afghanistan these 10,000 Afghan rupees this Kabul bank These kids offer to exchange my US dollars and Pakistani rupees for the local currency, Afghan ease, so how much do they want for everything?

He is asking for 100 rupees, he was 100 rupees, this bitter, since I am the right exchange rate. Yeah, I don't think so, but that's what he wants from you, if you can. The problem is that there are fourteen thousand Adal from Afghanistan and these guys will only offer me ten thousand one day. I think you will be a very good businessman after the banks do it. The kids pleasantly fleeced him and I rented an old Russian army jeep at the border, whether my driver comes as he is and the man could be my god Abdul and we head towards the spectacular Hindu Kush.

Slowly the road winds towards Kabul and as we move forward. It brings back a terrible feeling of deja vu. The last time I traveled on this road, it was controlled by the mujahideen warlords and there were checkpoints along it, each of which charged a toll, if you like. If you refused to pay, it could cost you your life. but at the moment this part of Afghanistan is relatively peaceful soon I will be able to see the capital for the first time kaboom you don't have to go far to see evidence of war everywhere there is rubble we film discreetly photography of humans is officially prohibited in Afghanistan and because this It is a country that suffers trade sanctions.

Westerners are not that popular, people are not 14. Some of them are deprived of basic human needs, so of course they are not happy, of course they are part of this. They are blaming the West. countries because they also feel totally abandoned to the perceptions about us in Kabul the law only allows foreigners to stay in one hotel and only one hotel the Continental is an ugly building that has not improved with the ravages of war it was where I stayed last time and that's where I stayed this time and what an alignment, one of the great principles of Islam is that all visitors should be honored regardless of their country or religion.

The plight of the continent sums up Afghanistan. Normally, an international hotel like this would be full of businessmen, politicians and power brokers. but apart from me it is empty, a deserted monument to the international isolation of Afghanistan after years of bombing, many of the windows are still covered in plastic, there is a shortage of glass and I am glad I was not here when these bullets fell. I asked for my old room, of course, no problem. I have the photo of the hotel. Thank you very much, thank you and you still have the best view in the city.

Five years ago, standing here, this was a panorama of the battle where the tanks were on that distant hill. During the entire tour of the city there were only shots and then, from outside, rockets came and were launched towards the city. It was just amazing to see her at peace. It's something I couldn't imagine five years ago, but I want to go back to where I was as a correspondent on the front lines of the cabal's death camps where I've witnessed so much death and suffering and it wasn't just humans who suffered what it is. As surprising as it is that the Cabal Zoo is still here, even more surprising is that they are. some of the animals and in surprisingly good condition too, since they were creatures caught in the crossfire, well, I guess you'd have to say this is the saddest bear in the world, but it's a miracle he's here because during the battle for Cabal, the zoo was the first line and there are trenches everywhere.

What's amazing is that the zookeepers stayed here during that whole fight and took care of the animals. We also took care of the trees because everyone wanted to cut them down for firewood. It's just one of those amazing ones. stories emerging from war the bear was unharmed but the lion was wounded when a grenade was thrown into his cage he is blind but alive this is where I first encountered the Islamic warriors whose leaders control this country the Taliban couldn't be less alike The fierce defenders of Islam demonized in the Western media and in a place where photography is strictly policed ​​are naturally intrigued by my camera, but placing all the Taliban in the same fundamentalist camp is not understanding where most of them are coming from. they just want to see order restored and a better life for their children.

Imagine being a child growing up with this as your playground. Much of this has been mind-blowing and many of the unexploded bombs have been removed. Many children lose their legs. Just having fun, it's been a discouraging first day in Kabul, in a ruined city where people still live with the prospect that any day the end of their world could come. I was invited here to take photographs but this is a country where under the Taliban Islamic code there are severe restrictions on taking photographs tomorrow I will get a permit but as I discovered getting the permit is one thing and making it work another morning in Kabul and the sunrise reveals a shattered city 20 years of fighting have taken a terrible toll on the Afghan capital this was once the shah's mausoleum and this was the former royal palace today they are little more than rubble but with the coals and the emperor long gone The shepherds they herd their sheep on the royal grounds my journey will take me across the country from Kabul to her in but before I leave I need permission from the Ministry of Information to travel to the great Buddhas of Bamiyan and for that I will have to wait and all the time I am being watched the Taliban are everywhere, you can tell them.

Because of their black turbans, the word Taliban means religious student and in religious school or madrasa they learn the Quran by heart in all 114 chapters. By doing so, they hope to interpret Islamic law in a pure and uncontaminated manner or that is the theory as a force. For a change, the Taliban have only existed since 1996, yet their rules of life are based on a text from the 8th century. It determines everything they do, including whether or not I can take pictures, but time is running out if I want to get to the Bamiyan Buddhas. Still no word from the Ministry, so it's time to do a little PR.

If an army marches upside down, let's see if I can appeal to the Taliban. Tucked away on a side street there is a kitchen and I love cooking pasta. What we are going to cook for the Afghans around here is what is called puttanesca, it is an Italian pasta. The first thing we do is cut up some beautiful fresh tomatoes, but keep in mind that they are often fertilized with human waste, so wash them very carefully. There's actually a really funny story about a guy who was willing to smuggle opium out of Afghanistan and to hide the smell, he actually put the opium under the truck full of onions, of course he gets to the border and gets arrested for smuggling. of onions if you are not allowed to have onions.

Before Afghanistan, they no longer cared about opium. I'm acquiring a huge audience. Seeing a Westerner cooking for Afghans must be really strange and if Afghan star Puttanesca sees that I'm really hot, pass it on now, thank you. Now, when it comes down to it, hmm, very happy, oh, it's very delicious. I think Afghans are very polite. Fortunately, one of my guests is from the Ministry of Information. He maybe he can put in a good word for us. He obviously likes my cooking, but what about Abdul? It's good, do you like it? Yes, but no, so I think you did.

So no, but they are not capers or anchovies, they are very salty. Can I use some kitchen salt and ketchup? Okay, I don't know, I don't think so. I'm going to change the culinary tastes of Afghanistan in one meal, but you know we can, but give it a good try, it seems to have worked. In the morning they called me to meet with Mr. fires Mohammad fires the Taliban information chief and spokesperson for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is a powerful man, in fact, he may be able to ensure the security or stability of the country, but Mr.

Feyo is also a religious scholar and a strict follower of Quranic law, so on one hand his law prohibits the depiction of any human image, on the other he wants to rebuild tourism and promote Afghanistan to the world, that is his dilemma that he does not want. be filmed, but to spread your message it has to be and what do you want the outside world to understand most about the administration here in Afghanistan, the bottom line of ours, come to Afghanistan, leave me mother, we have put an end to civil anarchy . war in their country and with that not only the tourists but also the journalists were able to freely visit our corner of the country and they were able to go wherever they wanted and they were able to visit many places and that includes us, ironically we get the go-ahead.

To celebrate the good news, Abdul takes Mr. Photographing faces with my Polaroid camera so we can go wherever we want and film whoever we like, not exactly What Mr. Fires doesn't tell us is that we are still not allowed to film people in cities nor does he warn us not to He has control over Afghanistan's most powerful government agency, the feared Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. The needles of this religious police are invisible everywhere but always present, so all filming must be done very discreetly now that we have been given permission to film in Afghanistan, the first film crew that the Taliban government has given It is not allowed to do it, the problem is that I am not allowed to film anyone, you can only film the country and the buildings, so doing it by walking openly on the street and filming is very illegal.

They could arrest me and they could take our cameras and destroy them. As you can see, this is not going to be an easy movie to make, so unsure of what exactly awaits us, we start our Jeep and head to the airport, our destination, which once ran one of the largest learning centers in Asia. and it was also the place where one of the best spy games was developed. The Afghan city of Herat is 400 miles west of Kabul as the crow flies and has been a battlefield for thousands of years. In its day it was one of the greatest centers of culture and learning in medieval Asia.

The city is in western Afghanistan borders Iran from here or head northeast towards mazar-e-sharif before heading to Bamian and once again I face delays Abdul comes out to try to get us filming permits reminding us that they were not prominent in Herat on the Taliban's list of priorities, the Taliban from the beginning were criticized by the Western media and that is why they are completely Abdul is trying to find the local Taliban commander, the only man who can give us the nine, it seems that the red ministerial of the clique does not extend to harass like this while Abdul Hegel waits in a restaurant specializing in boiled sheep brains the minutes become hours my day there has been a cancellation the next day a permit arrives we can film their rats old university although already not much remains of it, it was largely demolished by British soldiers in the 18th century, earthquakes and Worf destroyed the rest, but miraculously the minarets remain, not even Russian shells managed to fill them, butPermission to enter the citadel has not yet arrived, so to save time explore a local antique shop. thank you, you have a fantastic show, thank you, just, okay, thank you, okay, okay, great store, many, many things, okay, maybe a killer silver plated copper just okay, okay in a way It's like a history junk shop filled with discarded objects from Afghanistan's turbulent past, banknotes from imperial Russia. shoes from a harem of chars coins supposedly minted in the time of Alexander the Great and if you like ancient weapons, a particularly deadly weapon, this seems probably the most famous weapon in Afghanistan, they called it a gazelle and it is what the Afghans used to fight against the British. probably the first and second war and these were challenging them from their horses at this height, but they used to hold them very, very high like this incredible weapon.

I think it's incredibly difficult to aim, but apparently they were very good, very accurate, but this is who I am. Really what the glassware that is exclusive to this store right in the back is looking for is a kiln where the same family has been making the same formula for centuries and their method is a very well kept secret that is passed down from generation to generation and even with sanctions they do not lack buyers, in fact, they have just obtained two other pieces. a dollar this I think I will buy a lot yes, permission from the Taliban finally arrived.

I can film in the great citadel. I must say that I am surprised that this is a military base and the images will be of strategic interest to an enemy. However, they let us film, but with one condition: all people must be removed before we enter. I always wanted to explore this fortress because of its role in the forgotten beat of 19th century history, the secret spy wars between Britain and Russia, known as the Great Game. Afghanistan was the gateway to British India and Russia wanted to control that gateway. Intrepid British and Russian army officers roamed the country in disguise, mapping and spying on all military routes.

One of them was Lieutenant Eldridge Pottinger after being besieged for months in the citadel of Herat. It was Pottenger who saved the day for the Afghans. Finally, the Persians began to break the walls and the Afghans on this side seemed that everything was

lost

. He carried it towards the Persian invaders with his sword waving in the air, this absolutely terrified the Persians, they all retreated and then the Afghans inside the fort followed them and saved the city. An incredible story in a way that the great game sums up. Simply put, the problem with Afghanistan is that it is a country sandwiched between rival empires, so for invading armies it has always been a battlefield on the way to somewhere else.

The way any of these armies were able to move through Afghanistan is amazing, the roads through the mountains are the report. Now I head north, slowly approaching the battlefront and the killing fields, the deadly legacy of more than 20 years of war, central Afghanistan is one of the bleakest wastelands in Asia, everything here is influenced by a chilling fact that they had not been fighting against. For 20 years, but for 2,000 years, Afghanistan has always been a land of invasion, rival warlords and violence, a beautiful little castle that you see them all up and down these

valley

s, defending every strategic position.

The problem is that when you travel to Afghanistan, you have to be very careful if you want to go explore one because they are covered in minefields from the Russian era and also from the Civil War. We are now deep in the mountains of central Afghanistan on the road to Mazar-e-sharif it is the last major stop before the front line, although the killing fields extend to the outskirts of the city, this is a mined country and, if that were not enough, there is another scourge, a terrible drought has forced these people to abandon the nearby mountains towards this place is an abandoned barracks in the middle of a battlefield unexploded shells and landmines everywhere the human cost extracted by hunger and the explosion is Terrill this man has lost three of his five children in the last two weeks from Hungary from then on we just don't have enough to eat now, for once we can film safely without our Taliban vigilantes because we are here under the protection of Halo.

Trust these guys to be the miracle workers who destroy unexploded shells and landmines. How long has it taken to collect just these? this for a few months or weeks, you as citizens is as he says, in three days we collect all three days, three days, yes, that is incredible, so every three days you find so many, this work is terribly slow and there is no way to go faster yes holy, in this process mistakes are made and mistakes lead to only one result, death, it is estimated that there are still 10 million land mines to be cleared in Afghanistan every day, someone somewhere steps on a guy who has just found a land mine and it is one of thousands that have yet to be unearthed.

On this hillside and behind me in this valley, in three years they have cleared more than 1,800 mines, more than 3,000 unexploded bombs and rockets, and almost 70 anti-tank mines. It will probably take 10 years to clear all the high priority areas in Afghanistan, that is where the people live but it is only if the support and the money to pay for it continues finally after two days of tortuous travel we reached mazar-i-sharif despite all the fighting one building has managed to survive all the shells and bombs the big blue mosque this time there is no problem with the filming of course the same rules apply here, no photographs of human faces are taken so the Taliban expel everyone from the mosque.

I feel a little guilty, it's almost time to pray, but the rules are rules that no one can deviate from. our cameras this is one of the holiest shrines in Islam it is the burial place of Muhammad's son-in-law Hazrat Ali it is not only a spiritual place but it is one of the most beautiful mosques in the entire Muslim world, we have just heard some pretty news disturbing reports from the BBC and confirmed by the UN that the US could be moving towards another missile strike in Afghanistan called one of the camps perhaps associated with alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden and we can't confirm it but I have to say that standing here in this beautiful and serene place is incredible to believe. that maybe just 40 kilometers away cruise missiles will be landing in the next few hours hearing this, the UN pulls out, other foreign aid agencies do the same and paranoia reigns, all we can do is wait two days later and This time nothing has happened, the missiles are not coming, but false alarms like this are part of daily life here, without knowing when a bomb, my fall is just another pressure on a country that already lives on the edge with the crisis apparently passed, the paranoia subsides and I want to visit the ruins of one. of the oldest cities in the world and they deserve the Commission once again the violent history of Afghanistan rises to confront us this time the

timeline

is three thousand years this is what was once called the mother of all cities, although You could also call it the mother of all cemeteries we're wandering around places like this is boring for a lot of people, it's just a pile of stones and bones or in fact as you can see that's literally what it is, there are bones everywhere Sides, most of us only think about the last 20 years of war here in Afghanistan, but in reality it is about many more places like Bulk and sites like this throughout the country, these bones, these ruins go back to the earliest times. remote, this is what Afghanistan is all about, in fact, Bulk is built on bones all around.

The crumbling walls are the whitewashed remains of human habitations each time the city was looted, what was left of the population simply rebuilt it, if anything it sums up the violent history of Afghanistan, most of it has been looted for 3,000 years and is almost unbelievable, 700 times, is it any wonder that the Afghans are crying out for peace. Peace is something very important, it is not something common. You see, everything comes from peace. Now, if you have peace, you will have school. If you have peace, you can have, you can work, if you have peace, I mean, no.

I don't have to travel from one place to another to be a refugee from Rivka tomorrow. I head to a Sacred Valley, a place where a religion that prided itself on its tranquility was once practiced, but it is not a valley of Islam and finally I head to Bamian the Lost. Buddha Valley It is autumn in Afghanistan and when I first saw the Bamian Valley I was amazed by its beauty, this is the Afghanistan that few people talk about and I am one of the first Westerners in a long time who has been allowed to show it to the public. world the last sector of my journey has taken me from mazar-e-sharif to the heart of the hindu kush, not far from where the natural mineral waters bubble up from the ground, i find a great photographic vantage point from here, i catch my first glimpse to the lost Buddhas of Afghanistan and what colossal statues they are, the one in the distance is one hundred and eighty feet high, it is 57 meters excavated in living rock, the height of a 20-story building, but I would get much closer because I need permission, so I went up to the Bamian citadel and asked for a Potala ban.

This medieval fortress is both a ruin and a strategic outpost. The Taliban tell me that this place is called the city of noise. It is now deathly quiet, but it owes its name to the screams. of people massacred here by Genghis Khan over 800 years ago, the slaughter continued for days and today you can die just as horribly up here because this whole mountain is full of mines. Any step off the trails here and you're dead. The Taliban commander is no good The Buddhas have military importance Access will almost certainly be denied as long as Abdul keeps up the pressure We stay in the local village These are the Hazara people and I am told that the Taliban would prefer Lee not have much In touch with them, the Hazara are descendants of Genghis Khan's warriors, they want independence for their Valley, which is probably why the Taliban do not completely trust them at the moment.

There is an uneasy truce between the Taliban and the Azara, but the Azura not only seem to want to contact us, they want me to play on one of their volleyball teams, we discreetly filmed officially the Taliban have banned all sports in Afghanistan well, obviously no one told Hazara them the next morning there is an urgent summons and I hope it doesn't mean problems doesn't it if we go out this second I can see the Buddhas but when I get there it's not exactly what I expected it's old okay it's definitely beautiful but It's small, not one of those big ones I saw on the other side of the valley the day before.

It is not in very good condition either, but the irony is that the very nature of this sculpture was the cause of its destruction because Muslims abhor the worship of idols and that is why, from approximately the 7th century, Muslim pilgrims passing through this valley They simply obeyed their religion and this is the result, but there is an even greater irony: Buddhism was also a religion that hated idols more than 2,000 years ago, the Buddha was represented by a symbol usually a footprint or a wheel, but then A great change occurred in Buddhism and it took place right here, the kings who The Bamiyan government launched a new humanized form of Buddhism by turning Buddha into a recognizable man, so the Buddhas of Bamiyan are not only some of the largest, but also some of the oldest in the world, but, for me, they are so tantalizingly close and yet so frustratingly far.

Early the next morning we make one last attempt to get permission and miraculously it works, the Taliban commander will let us see the giant borders in exchange for a favor, he wants me to take his picture, so once again in a country that ban human form photography, this is not the time to point out inconsistencies in anyone's logic, make it warm, could you go first so I'll finally have the chance to explore the Buddhas, they've been allowed to fall into ruins for a thousand years or more, but still this is one of the most incredible places I've ever been to it's an incredible rabbit hole this whole mountain is full of tunnels and they all lead to little chambers where they would have lived or prayed and they all congregate around the Buddha here as you can see the upper part of his face has been carved or it may have been Genghis Khan, they may have been pilgrims or it may have been relatively recently and they also burned something black on the face but we can still say it is a sculpture incredible.

I think you could say one of the best in the world and then they tell me the reason they were so reluctant to let us film down here is a Taliban ammunition depot. I'm only allowed a few minutes, but that's all. I need the frustrations and delays to suddenly go away.long forgotten, I just believe that this is the place where the Buddha in human form was brought into the world before we left. Abdul has an unpleasant task to perform, it seems our assistant driver has been spying for the religious police, perhaps. That's why we had so much trouble getting permission, we'll never know, but Abdullah was outraged not only because he has been spying but because he has broken a cardinal rule of Islam by being inhospitable to strangers.

We paid him and headed to the border while returning. Through the Khyber Pass I begin to realize what we have achieved: we are one of the few documentary crews who have not been expelled by the Taliban largely because we try to stick to the spirit of their rules and, although we found some Of those frustrating rules, they respected us for trying to abide by them, they may have restricted and limited what we could film, but they never tried to censor what we wanted to say, so as I pass the burned tank once again, I wonder if I'll still be here next time I stop by here.

I also wonder what other secrets are hidden in their troubled but beautiful land, a land that longs to shed its battle image as it tries to emerge from isolation at the ends of the earth.