[CPProt.net] Artifacts Pilfered from Afghanistan Returned to Karzai

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

Artifacts Pilfered from Afghanistan Returned to Karzai

May 25, 2005


WASHINGTON: - Afghan President Hamid Karzai reclaimed a small part of his
nation's cultural heritage -- and drew promises of U.S. help toward
achieving a richer future -- in a visit to Washington's premier museum of
Asian art. 

Karzai's May 23 visit to the Freer Gallery, on the capital's museum-lined
Mall, fell on the second day in Washington of his second official visit to
the United States. 

The highlight of his appearance in the museum's auditorium before leaders in
the arts, politics and diplomacy came as U.S. officials turned over to the
Afghan president a pair of ancient coins - just two of the 30,000 that had
been looted from the Afghan national museum when civil war broke out after
the departure of Soviet troops in 1989. 

Investigators for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Agency tracked down the two stolen coins in the United
States a few months ago, after they had surfaced earlier in Pakistan. 

The Indo-Greek coins, dating to between 171 and 160 B.C. -- soon after the
time of Alexander the Great - had originally been discovered by a 1971
French-led archeological expedition near the Oxus River in northeastern
Afghanistan. 

Handing the coins over to Karzai after a brief signing ceremony, Michael
Garcia, Homeland Security's assistant secretary for immigration and customs
enforcement, said the effort to help Afghans to recover their rich cultural
heritage reflected "that great spirit of respect and cooperation that exists
between our two countries." 

The two nations "will continue to work together toward the restoration of
Afghanistan's treasured past," he pledged. 

Karzai struck an initial light note in his response. Beaming as he held one
of the small coins aloft between thumb and index finger for the benefit of
photographers, he instructed, "Zoom the lens!" 

"What a great day!" Karzai said. The president said he had not initially
known that 30,000 coins were missing, but added, "now there are two coins
less lost." 

Karzai said that, in some respects, Afghanistan is "a nation too attached to
history." 

"Sometimes we suffer because of that close attachment to history because we
forget the future," he said. 

But he called on his audience to visit his country and share in the cultural
heritage. "There is a memory in Afghanistan, and that memory is living," he
said. 

"We like to connect that memory of the past to a better future for our
country, a future of peace and prosperity, so that centuries (from
now)...the today of Afghanistan is again remembered as a great past," he
concluded. 

Bruce Cole, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH),
which sponsored the event, said he saw it as "the start of a longstanding
effort that will promote a scholarly and cultural partnership between
(Afghanistan's)...storied past and ours." 

He said the NEH is involved in multiple projects aimed at preserving and
documenting the art and artifacts of Afghanistan, including grants it has
awarded to catalog the Begram ivories and the collections in the Kabul
Museum. 

Cole said the NEH plans to announce an initiative this summer under which
scholars, museums, filmmakers and archivists will be encouraged to
"rediscover Afghanistan's history and culture." He said he looked forward to
"the coming renaissance of a great civilization." 

Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad put the cooperation
in an even broader context. 

Citing a declaration of strategic partnership signed by Presidents Karzai
and Bush May 23, Khalilzad said the partnership "should help Afghanistan get
ready for a future of security, prosperity and democracy." 

"The United States will assist Afghanistan in political, economic and
security terms until Afghanistan stands on its own feet and takes its
rightful place in the region and the world," he said. 

Employing the symbolism of the return of the coins, Khalilzad told Karzai,
"The United States is proud to be your partner to help Afghanistan prepare
for the future but also to help restore the glorious past." 


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