Twenty years after the Taliban blew up two famous Buddha statues, Afghans commemorated the tragic loss of their historical and cultural heritage on March 9 at a ceremony in the central Bamiyan valley.

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan — The Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues in early 2001 shocked the world and highlighted their hard-line regime, toppled soon after in a U.S.-led invasion. Now ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The Church publishes the Monitor ...

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan — They stand like missing hearts carved out of the mountain's chest, abandoned chambers where ancient wonders of the world once gazed placidly. It's been nearly 10 years since the ...

Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddhas were symbols of the country’s rich cultural history. When extremists destroyed them, the world ...

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan -- The world mourned last year when the hard-line Taliban regime, decrying false idols, blew up the priceless, 15-centuries-old Buddha statues hewn into a cliff here. But for the ...

Colossal statues of Buddah carved into sandstone cliffs of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, were recently demolished by the Taleban, the fundamentalist Islamic militia that has governed most of Afghanistan since ...

Digby passes on an intriguing observation from Amanda Marcotte, connecting the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas with “Drill, Baby, Drill!” Amanda thinks some people like destroying things that ...

For an aspiring tourist mecca, the Oriental Buddha Kingdom Theme Park in the lush mountains of Leshan is doing a pretty woeful job. Its main attraction, a 37-meter replica of one of the famed Bamiyan ...

Amid the ongoing unrest in Afghanistan following the Taliban's latest takeover of the country, UNESCO has called for the preservation of Afghanistan's cultural heritage, including its two UNESCO World ...