Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; , america.aljazeera.com, 6-24-14)
An archaeologist in Logar Province, Afghanistan (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images) |
Ancient statues and other artifacts are buried under Mes Aynak -- and so is a $40 billion copper mine.
Saving Afghanistan's Cultural Treasures
Gilded face (Prof. Brent E. Huffman) |
Logar province, southeast of Kabul, is considered one of the most dangerous [provinces] in Afghanistan. It’s near Pakistan’s volatile Waziristan region, where armed militants roam freely across the porous border.
French map showing Messe Aynak, Kabul |
Mes Aynak (“little copper well” in Dari), which was once a [Buddhist] city on the Silk Road [competing with Bamiyan, Afghanistan, as possibly the original Kapilavastu, the "Shakya'stan"/Sakkastan where Shakyamuni the Buddha was born and raised], is home to one of Central Asia’s oldest Buddhist artifacts, dating to the time of Alexander the Great.
Great Afghan stupa at Mes Aynak (AS) |
Afghanistan lost a rich piece of cultural heritage in 2001 when the Taliban [aided and abetted by the CIA setting the stage for an American invasion, much as they are currently doing with ISIS/ISIL to set up a pretext for the invasion and full-spectrum dominance of more of the geopolitical "Middle East"] used dynamite to blow up two massive Buddha statues carved into sandstone [Himalayan] cliffs in Bamiyan in northern Afghanistan [along the Hindu Kush, which is part of the extensive Himalayan range].
Mes Aynak,Tepe Narenj (isaw.nyu.edu) |
In addition to its cultural significance, Mes Aynak is the site of one the world’s largest undeveloped copper deposits.
On April 25, 2008, the MMP signed a 30-year, $3 billion contract with the China Metallurgical Group, a state-owned mining enterprise based in Beijing.
The deal is the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan to date. The Chinese have already spent close to $200 million on payments to the Afghan government and on preliminary work on the site.
But the mining project is at a standstill until the archaeological dig is completed. More
Mes Aynak Buddha statues revealed by early archeological digging (irtiqa-blog.com) |
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