Word: bamiyan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...take some solace in knowing there are fewer refugees than they originally feared. Reasons for this less dire outcome: the brevity of the war, the crushing poverty and people's realization they are safe at home because U.S. bombs have generally been accurate. Yet thousands of others, especially near Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, are homeless, a consequence of the ongoing civil war. Relief agencies have adequate food and supplies, but getting the goods where they are needed has been dicey, especially in areas where the Taliban still roams. Delivery won't get much easier even when the Taliban is disarmed...
...March this year, Muslim extremists, for ideas of their own about idolatry, used dynamite to "kill" the giant Buddhas in Bamiyan, in the high peaks west of the Afghan capital Kabul. While blowing up the statues - one of them near 55m tall - could not touch the tenets of Buddhism, the destruction of part of the world's cultural heritage caused widespread outrage. It highlighted the contrary nature of the "nation" of Afghanistan, a place forever falling apart under the weight of war, but which over millennia has also produced wondrous works...
Visitors to the exhibition hear a deep booming sound, followed by shouting. It emanates from one large room where a cinema-size screen is showing continuously a 1-min., 45-sec. clip of the Bamiyan explosions - the great clouds of smoke and dust when, despite pleas to the Taliban from around the world, the giant Buddhas were blasted on March 11. Monreal says the muffled shouting is mainly Allah Akbar , Allah is Great...
...sectarian group, and stopped women from working or studying. Their interpretation of Islam was severe: thieves had their hands amputated; men were physically punished for not wearing beards. Omar the hard-liner was at the center of every decision, including the destruction of two giant Buddhist statues in Bamiyan earlier this year. The Taliban refused to surrender bin Laden after the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Washington's current threat still hasn't rattled Omar. The Taliban now says the Saudi millionaire should stand trial in Afghanistan...
...found a shop that doubled as a guesthouse. As the afternoon wore on, more and more Taliban fighters, from a different group from that of our departed escorts, arrived. Their expressions told us something was wrong. A translator said the new group was accusing us of taking pictures at Bamiyan. Another English speaker then removed a pornographic photograph from his pocket and claimed it was mine, further declaring that it was a picture of my wife. He assured me that I would be punished. I repeatedly denied my guilt. The men demanded our cameras and the rest of our packs...