The Taliban destroyed Afghanistan’s ancient Buddha statues. Now they’re welcoming tourists.

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan — The Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues in early 2001 shocked the world and stressed their hard- line governance, stumbled soon after in aU.S.- led irruption.

Now back in charge of Afghanistan and eager to present a softer image, the militant group is running the point as a sightseer magnet.
For around$ 5, curious callers can wander around and take prints of the giant holes in the precipice face where the ancient Buddha statues formerly stood.

Under a white Taliban flag, dogfaces man a cell and write out admission tickets.
Sidiq Ullah, who’s a supporter of the militant group, came to see the major point this week with musketeers from Kandahar, around 350 country miles southwest of Bamiyan. Now that the Taliban are in control, he said, he feels free to travel the country.

“ I was youthful when these were destroyed, about 7 times old, and since also it has been a dream to come and see what happed then,” he said.
“ I ’m happy it was destroyed. I ’m then to see the remains actually.”

Sculpted into the face of a precipice, the two 6th century Buddha statues — one 180 bases altitudinous and the other 124 bases altitudinous — towered over the vale.
The area was a holy point for Buddhists on the ancient trading route between China and Europe known as the Silk Road.

When the Taliban blazoned their plan to destroy the statues in 2001, they had come under heavy transnational pressure to keep them standing. But, labeling themun-Islamic, the group brought the statues down using heavy snares.
Since taking over the country again a many months agone, the Taliban have sought to present a more moderate face to the world despite a brutal crackdown in some areas. As the hard- line Islamic group navigates the profitable and security challenges of governing the country after times of insurrection, it’s also under pressure from transnational associations to cover Afghanistan’s artistic heritage.

“ Bamiyan has always been a part of Afghanistan that the outside world has concentrated on,” said Llewelyn Morgan, the author of “ The Buddhas of Bamiyan” and a professor of classics at the University of Oxford.
“ The Taliban know that and that’s why in their slightly inept way they’re still trying to paint themselves as a formative government.”

Grottoes on the precipice face were formerly home to Buddhist cloisters and sanctuaries.
Now those around the Buddhas are empty, while other grottoes further down are home to families. Clothing flaps on laundry lines, children play in empty grottoes and some indeed have glass windows installed.

UNESCO, or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, declared the Bamiyan Valley a World Heritage Site in 2003.
It worked with theU.S.- backed Afghan government to conserve what was left of the Buddha statues after the Taliban’s destruction of the point.

The association had also backed a artistic center and gallery in Bamiyan to “ integrate original communities as well as to identify Bamiyan’s rich artistic backgrounds,” according to its website.
With the Taliban in charge, its future was unclear. UNESCO did n’t respond to requests for comment.

In the days after the militant group swept back to power in the summer, UNESCO issued a statement calling for the preservation of spots like it.
“ It’s pivotal for the future of Afghanistan to guard and save these milestones,” the agency said.

Though scaffolding remains in the niches where the Buddha statues formerly stood, the preservation work has now ended. Many callers arrived when NBC News was at the point, despite the Taliban’s stated amenability to drink excursionists.
Abdullah Sarhadi, the area’s governor who spent nearly four times as a internee in Guantanamo Bay, said that the Taliban have changed and that they will save major monuments.

For now, he’s staying to hear further from the upper situations of the Taliban government before making any changes to the point.
“ We want to show the world there’s peace and security in Afghanistan now,” Sarhadi said.