By: Ellen Wang

Back in 2001, Taliban leader Mohammad Omar blew up two monumental Buddha statues as Buddhas were deemed false gods. Now, with the Taliban back in power, and as the economic depression continues, the Taliban opened the site for tourists to visit.

This unprecedented incident secured the Taliban’s title as inflexible radicals within Afghanistan. Using explosives and antiaircraft guns, the Taliban managed to form a crater that was nearly 125 feet deep, where two massive sixth-century Buddha statues used to stand.

When the US-backed group was in power from 2001 to 2021, Bamian held significant importance over the region. The place is now used as a source of income for the impoverished Afghans, and they use the opportunity to sell tourism as is a main attraction point for Bamian. The government also employed more than 1,000 guards around the cultural heritage exhibits in Afghanistan, and some were surprised to see Taliban officers at the opening of a museum dedicated to Buddhist artifacts.

Tourists and visitors to the Bamian well see themselves surrounded by potato fields overshadowed by the Hind Kush mountains, and a main hotel separated by barbed wire on all sides. In the hotel, there are paintings of before the statues were bombed out of existence. Surrounding the hotel, there is construction for new souvenir stores. According to Saifurrahman Mohammadi, information and culture director for the regional Taliban government, it ‘has been too long since the bombing,’ and ‘people should move on.’

20,000 tourists visited the place in 2022, earning the area around $57 per person. In one of Afghanistan’s poorest regions that use to rely on mining coal and other substances, Mohammadi believed “These archaeological sites could massively improve people’s lives [in Bamian].” However, people, such as the two sisters in Bamian say that sales have decreased by over 50% since the Taliban overthrew the prior government in April 2021. The Taliban’s return hasn’t just impacted businesses, but peoples’ daily lives, too. The Taliban closed a school due to boys and girls sharing a classroom during class. “I’m scared,” one of the sisters said. “There is no good future here.”

Tourist to this site nowadays consists of only two types of people: Taliban soldiers, in marvel of the cliffs they created, and educated Afghans, angered of the marvel they had destroyed over 20 years prior. A 27-year-old from Iran, states this: “The Taliban have a mentality from 500 years ago, they’re mentally not capable of making use of this place.” Sayed, a 22-year-old Afghan, devastated at the fact that the Taliban were entrusted with these timeless artifacts, says this: “They are professionals at destroying things, not at rebuilding them.

Another result of the Taliban overthrowing the government in 2021 also led to many international archeologists pulling out of sites around Afghanistan. Mohammadi states the current government has done all it can to preserve these sites as he urges archeologists to return to Afghanistan. “We urge them as government members but also as humans,” he said. “This is the entire world’s heritage.” Despite this, many still believe it is dangerous work there, under Taliban rule.

Now, drawing tourists to the site will be harder than ever. Even though Afghanistan still has much more to offer, people are too scared to take the chance to go back to Afghanistan due to all the political tension happening there. However, it seems not everyone agrees. Some Taliban officers took a trip to Band-e-Amir, where the blue skies and lakes offer an amazing swan boat experience.

However, as Mohammad Younus Mukhles, a former Taliban fighter who was having the time of his life there, says that: “We’re stunned, it’s very safe.”