The war in Afghanistan
is no longer making headline news since the U.S. withdrew its troops in a
sudden and short-term operation. What’s new, we might ask. The answer is
nothing.
Alexander spent three years of his life in Central Asia fighting an ever-elusive enemy of tribes
that no longer fought each other but joined forces against the invader. In the
5th century, the Huns wreaked havoc; Genghis Khan, at the head of the
Mongols, rampaged the region in the 13th century; Tamerlane repeated the
operation a century later; and the Mughal dynasty followed suit in the 16th
century. Even Islam spreading brotherhood among men could not achieve any
result. The more recent invasions by Britain
in 1839-1842 and 1870-1880, the Soviet Union in 1979-1989, and the United States
in 2001-2021 only repeated their predecessors’ fatal outcomes.
Who are we to call Alexander’s campaign in Central Asia a failure when later invaders with far more
sophisticated means did not fare any better? Alexander was a military genius,
and no one has been able to surpass him – certainly not here in Afghanistan.
Those looking for a complete analysis on the situation in Afghanistan will find useful
information in Frank Holt’s book Into the Land of Bones,
Alexander the Great in Afghanistan.
The author draws an excellent comparison of Alexander’s
achievements with those of later invaders. He asserts that the only way to rule
the country should imply that the conqueror subdues every warlord because one
single exception would erase all previous successes. Isn’t that precisely what
Alexander tried to achieve?
The French archaeologists who worked in Afghanistan
early last century upon the invitation of King Mohammed Zahir were confronted
with the double face of the local population. During the day, they gathered
around to look and give a helping hand, while at night, they would destroy the
statues and steal the precious artifacts. Tribal elderly, generally strong
Islamic believers, destroyed many human statues as soon as they were unearthed.
Altogether, many unique artifacts were destroyed overnight or disappeared on
their way to the Museum in Kabul
(see: Le trésor perdu des rois d’Afghanistan by
Philippe Flandrin). Typically for Afghanistan,
not even the king could overrule the tribe elderly!
Under these circumstances, it is impressive that the
gold treasure from Tillya Tepe, a tomb hill in the northwest corner of Afghanistan,
has survived. The content of these six tombs was barely rescued when the Soviet
Union entered Afghanistan in 1979 and safely transferred to the Museum
in Kabul (see: Bactrian Gold, the Hidden Treasures from the Museum of Kabul). The Museum
suffered greatly from the ensuing civil wars and was repeatedly plundered, and
artifacts were stolen. The worst, however, was still to come when in 2001, the
Taliban decided not only to destroy the huge Buddha statues at Bamyan but also to annihilate the 2,500 statues and reliefs of the
Museum. However, a handful of brave Afghans rescued the Tillya Tepe treasure and locked it away in the vaults of the
Presidential Palace. They managed to keep the place a secret. By 2004 the
government of Afghanistan
decided that the situation was safe enough to bring the gold artifacts out in
the open again, but the Museum in Kabul was no
longer fit to shelter this precious collection. Based on their earlier collaboration, they contacted the Musée Guimet in Paris
and, together, they agreed to send these rich finds on a traveling tour around the
world.
Today, with the ruling Taliban, the country is still
dominated by its warlords, who consistently cling to their traditions and mistrust
all foreign intrusion.
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