Beginning with Buddha

So the next chapter I've started is the one on the Buddhas of Bamiyan, those ancient giants who were blown to kingdom come by the Taliban in Afghanistan in March of 2001. I'd read a fair amount about the event, mind you, so I figured I knew the score when I began.

Taliban in Afghanistan, as I understand them, is an extreme fundamentalist Muslim organization consisting of mostly males under the age of 40. They're not particularly well-educated in their own religion or in the great outside world, and have been shunned by a lot of the other Muslim organizations. They interpreted one section of the Koran to say that all images of living things were anathema, so, being action- oriented kinds of guys, they set about smashing idols right and left. Most people aren't aware of the amount of damage they did to the minor Buddhist art before they ever touched the big boys of Bamiyan. I myself raised an eyebrow at these 21st century iconoclasts. But though I didn't approve, of course, I figured it was going to be a pretty straightforward story.

A) Extreme religionists take bans on idol worship seriously.
B) Extreme religionists decide to blow up everybody else's idols, since they have none of their own.
C) Everybody else is upset because of the historical value of the statues. (Raising the interesting question- when does religious art become art? But that's for another chapter.)
D) Boom.
E) End of story, except the part where live Afghan people are bombed by outraged industrialized nation looking for a fugitive Saudi Arabian.

Easy. Check the letters to the editor and primary sources, watch the tapes and... Ooops. Not so easy. BUT-

What's this about UNESCO coming in with the dough to maintain the statues and the Taliban asking if they could throw some money in the direction of the starving kids. Since that wasn't their mission, they said no, the Taliban got pissed off, and booom! Dead statues. Was this true? If so, whose fault was this? Did the Taliban even try to approach UNICEF? Did UNESCO point them in the right direction? Or is this all an attempt at damage control after the fact by the ministry of propaganda?

And- a UXB. I found a story- one, mind you, and no others- about a cabal of outside interests who talked the Taliban, which had apparently refused to destroy these same statues before because of their tourist value, into the deed. Outsiders like Chechens, Saudis, etc. I'm ddep in the hunt to find the truth of it all and man, it's making my skin crawl. Was this a set up? Was it true? (The report came from a western writer, so doesn't really reek of propaganda.) Is it a pre-911 attempt to bait the west into hostiliites?

More as events develop...