In March 2001, the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan executed a planned campaign to destroy the two monumental Buddha statues carved into the cliff face at Bamiyan Valley. The statues, dating to the 6th and 7th centuries and standing some 55 and 38 metres tall, had been a UNESCO-recognised cultural heritage site. The Taliban leadership declared the statues idolatrous under their interpretation of Islamic law and issued a decree on 1 March 2001 ordering their destruction.
The process of demolition began shortly thereafter and continued for several weeks, with artillery, explosives and other means employed until the statues were obliterated. Their destruction drew international condemnation, symbolised the erasure of a major part of Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic cultural legacy and highlighted the intersection of cultural heritage and conflict. The event also had a global impact on heritage-preservation discourse.
