The world could soon catch a glimpse of Afghanistan’s fabled Bactrian gold, as preparations get under way to exhibit some of the 20,000 or so pieces that make up the country’s most important ancient treasure trove.
Dates and locations have yet to be finalized, but the United States, France, Germany, Japan and Greece, are among countries interested in playing host to the 2,000-year-old haul, which has miraculously remained intact despite years of war and upheaval.
While other important archaeological sites have been plundered or ruined by war, the Bactrian gold discovered by a Soviet team just before the Red Army invasion of 1979 has had a number of narrow escapes, adding to its allure and mystery.
“When the process of inventory is done, we will decide,” said Culture and Information Minister Sayed Makhdoom Raheen. “We will sit down with the Americans, the Germans, French and Japanese and make a joint decision on arranging a tour.”
The favorites to be the first hosts are the Americans and French.
Raheen hopes interest in the treasure, found near the northern town of Shiberghan, will generate funds to build museums and combat looting.
“This ministry is in need of much,” he said, rubbing weary eyes. “I want to spend the money on new museums. We used to have museums in the provinces, and now we have none.”
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Plans are under way to build a museum in Bamiyan, home to the giant Buddhas that were cut into cliffs but were blown up by the Taliban in 2001. It was an act of destruction that shocked the world and exposed the hardline Islamic militia’s intolerance.
A new museum may also be built in Kabul, where the Bactrian gold will eventually be kept.
More than gold
Raheen is aware that a series of exhibitions could be vital to supporting his ministry, but there is much more on his mind.
“My mind is busy with many other sites and historical objects,” he said. “The main problem is looting of those sites by warlords and the international mafia; even now hundreds of pieces are going out of the country.”
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An Afghan official who viewed the Bactrian gold recently in an underground vault in the heavily guarded presidential palace in Kabul described the pieces he saw, including an intricately designed belt and a gold broach, as “priceless.”
Hardly anyone sees the collection, and those who do are searched by armed U.S. mercenaries hired by Washington to protect President Hamid Karzai.
The paranoia is understandable.
Retreating Soviet forces left behind the Bactrian treasure. So did the Taliban, according to several accounts, despite desperate efforts to access the vault as U.S. bombers pounded Kabul on the eve of the regime’s demise in November 2001.
Many assumed the gold had disappeared forever, but it was discovered intact after the vault was finally opened in August for the first time in 14 years.
Riches from a burial site
Raheen said there were 20,600 gold pieces in the collection. The trove was from a nomad burial site in what was once Bactria, lying between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Amu Darya river, also known as the Oxus.
The coins, necklaces set with gems, belts, medallions and crowns have never been seen outside Afghanistan.
But while curators pitch for a part in what promises to be a glittering roadshow, Raheen keeps his mind fixed on the needs at home.
“We recently established a 500-man guard with the Interior Ministry,” he said, referring to a force set up to protect what is left of Afghanistan’s heritage. “It took me a year to get this far. But it is not mobilized yet; we need cars and equipment.”