Treasures from Afghanistan

This article was contributed by Ambassador Mohammad Saleem Sayeb of Afghanistan in Seoul for publication by The Korea Post, publisher of 3 English and 2 Korean-language news media.—Ed.

Five months ago exactly on July 5th, Embassy of Afghanistan together with the National Museum of Korea inaugurated the exhibition of the ancient treasure of the country through an unprecedented initiative here in the Republic of Korea.
First and foremost I want to thank the leadership of the National Museum of Korea who enthusiastically cooperated with the Embassy of Afghanistan to achieve such a great opportunity for exhibiting the very fabulous antiquities of my country in two prestigious places in the Republic of Korea. What happened was a giant step to grow up the sensation of mutual ties and enhance the cultural friendly cooperation between the two nations.

I hope this exhibition was able to provide a snapshot of Afghanistan’s ancient rich history to its viewers and visitors and I’m very glad that my Korean friends, who had an opportunity to take a look at this event from all social classes, now can easily find the real story of my country by contemplating on this priceless historic treasure trove.
Afghanistan is a cradle of various civilizations. The country given the sensitivity of its geographical location, attracted many effective foreign players throughout the history to leave their potent impact on the land. The constructive interaction between Afghan and foreign cultures established a breathtaking mosaic which is unique in its reality and inimitable in its appearance.
I am sure this exhibition has provided us with an unmistakable evidence of how able and skilled this nation is. Therefore, when we decided to have this great event here in the Republic of Korea, we were aiming to say, if anyone open the yet unread chapters of Afghanistan history will be amazed by the creativity of a talented nation who competently collaborated with the creation of the human civilizations in the past, we were aiming to say Afghanistan is still able to continue on the same path and deliver more advantageous services to the human history if there is no war and evident foreign intervention.

Unfortunately we, the Afghans, are victims of a conspiracy which is going to demolish our history and deprive us from our bright and very inspiring past. Our enemy is deliberately trying to implement its vicious job, to bring about an atmosphere that will never be more than a complete toxic and total suffocating one. At the beginning of this century Taliban elements destroyed our two very well known features of Afghanistan’s ancient history, the two giant and fantastic statues of Buddha in Bamiyan, while the country has embraced them safe and intact for about 2000 years. This embarrassing tactic badly damaged the image of Afghans as a responsible and well-mannered nation. A nation who is proud of his early history and rich culture, and of course deeply respects the humanity’s shared values.
When it came out that the extremist groups want to destroy the statues, the people of Afghanistan were completely shocked but regrettably didn’t have any chance to defend the unparalleled relics, because the world completely abandoned Afghanistan and nearly the entire country became trapped in the grip of extremist groups who stubbornly tried to actualize their nasty platform through destroying the signs of our deep past.
Based on the aforementioned sad story, when we made a decision to stand unwaveringly before the threats and fought valiantly against the ruinous extremism and a handful ignorant mercenaries, we didn’t go to solely defend our own land but to some extent to maintain the humanity shared values and to protect the mankind historic assets against destructions too.

In spite of a dopey and stupid warmongering strategy by the extremist groups and their supporters, the era of hope and trust is burgeoning in Afghanistan under the new leadership of the country. President Ghani is clear and determined to reinstate peace and stability in Afghanistan through following a multi-pronged strategy. Increasing pressure on the enemy will not be eased but the way of peace and reconciliation will remain open. Fighting against corruption is at the core of his daily schedule along with economic development which is his top priority too, but he is eager to realize the goal via an outright win-win strategy with our neighbors. Everyone has to remember that a zero-sum game never helps and never brings peace and prosperity to the region. We have to work together; we have to avoid traditional harmful policies by deeply reviewing our past, correcting our grave mistakes, making responsible decisions and bearing in mind that a valiant joint decision against the common threats and common challenges never harms either side. Extremists deliberately strive to deprive us from our historic assets, to create a poisonous circumstance that continuously hurts at the core of our common interests. The past is gone, let’s begin a new era with new jobs, new tools and new mindsets to keep more destruction at bay and defeat extremism which is not just a fuzzy threat but clearly a devastating danger for the entire region.
Let’s turn back to the main theme, our exhibition is going to reach its last stage in the city of Gyeongju and The Treasures from Afghanistan will be back home or will open its way to another place after has been hosted by the Korean above-mentioned museums for about five months.
I hope this glorious event turns to a springboard for more cultural co-operations among the relevant entities in the two countries and opens the way for exchanging experiences in the area of excavation and technical know-how to keep the available precious objects against erosion safe and immune.
We are well aware that the Republic of Korea since the collapse of Taliban regime collaborated vastly with the people of Afghanistan. KOICA is offering unbelievable job in various fields, it is managing the most tangible projects on the land. Recently South Korea pledged $255 million dollars for our both security and economic development sectors, respectively in Warsaw and Brussels conferences. We deeply appreciate this approach and cherish the memory of the Republic of Korea’s positive stance toward Afghanistan in a very sensitive moment.
At the end it is important to renew my sincere thanks again to both the National Museum of Korea and to the Gyeongju National Museum and their diligent staff who tirelessly worked to make this exhibition successful.