Kabul Museum: 'Taliban's arrival prevented looting'

Ever since the wars began in this land, excavation work stopped, but by the civil war of the 90s, about , relics of many periods had been deposited in the Kabul Museum.

No matter how old Afghanistan's history is, the archeology of 5,000 years may seem short.

If there are natural deposits on the one hand under the piles of dust and stone, on the other hand there are countless antiquities.

Archaeological exploration began in Afghanistan about 100 years ago and in a very short time, not only many important ancient sites were discovered, but thousands of old antiquities were also discovered by excavation.

Unfortunately, as usual, wars broke out in this land and excavation work stopped, but by the civil war of the 90s, about , relics of many periods had been deposited in the Kabul Museum.

Yahya Mohibzada, chief officer of the Kabul Museum's National Archives, says that during the civil war, which was more intense in the museum's premises, 70, relics of the museum were looted and the remaining relics, including the museum building, were severely damaged by artillery and large arms shelling.

Chief Officer Yahya Mohibzada said: "With the efforts of our Ministry of Information and Culture, about 10, old relics of Afghanistan have been returned from different countries of the world and so far there are , historical relics according to our completed database in the Kabul Museum." 

Yahya Mohibzada said that the museum has all kinds of relics from pre-history to historical and modern times, in which there are numerous relics of different places, different civilizations and different periods such as Stone and Bronze Ages.

"I would like to tell you, for example, that we have a sculptural stone, which according to research is a 15,-year-old historical statue, as well as numerous relics related to Achaemenid, Greek, Greek Bactrian, Kushani and Buddhist civilization, and finally Islamic civilization. We claim that our relics are important because the ancient relics of every country are the sources of the civilization and history of that country. 

Yahya Mohibzada added: "With the arrival of the Islamic Emirate, not only was there no criticism, but looting was stopped. Otherwise, often some bad people and groups try to take advantage of such chaos. 

He said that the doors of the museum are open in front of the audience and they are increasing day by day and in normal conditions when the weather is hot and schools and colleges are open, every day 7800 people come here to see the museum, including students of colleges and universities.