Taliban destroys best of Afghanistan

World leaders cried. Historians mourned. The faithful howled. But that didn't matter when bulldozers destroyed Buddhist statues in Afghanistan.\nThis is another atrocity by a government bent on breaking the people it oversees.\n The perpetrators behind the demolition call themselves the Taliban. The Taliban, a militia that has governed nearly all of Afghanistan since 1995, decided the statues have been treated as idols or worship, which it says is against its religion of Islam. It announced it would destroy the statues earlier, and though world leaders and historians pleaded with it to reconsider, the Taliban revved up its machinery in defiance. \nOne statue stood 120 feet high and the other, at 170 feet, was believed to be the world's tallest standing Buddha. These atrocities might not be the end of this destruction, because Taliban militiamen would like to see all Afghanistan's pre-Islamic relics in ruins.\nAs it stands now, the statues are nearly gone. What remains is yet another crime executed by a criminal government from which even other Islamic countries have distanced themselves.\nAn Afghani spokesman said the country's pre-Islamic history is of no interest to the Taliban rulers, nor are they moved by objections from across the globe. He dismissed the United Nations' criticism, saying the world body has been against the Taliban rulers since they gained control of most of the country in 1996. Previously, the ancient statue sites were tourist attractions. People from all over the world journeyed to the country to pay homage to the sites. \nMost of the people who came to these sites were likely Buddhists, not Muslims, which further weakens the Taliban's argument that the statues compromise Islamic beliefs. \nThe Taliban is trying to further isolate its countrymen in deeper poverty and increased fear of their government. \nThe Taliban is more famous for severely restricting the rights of women. Previously, females in Afghanistan were allowed to walk the streets, but now, even that is limited. Education for women is a joke -- it's long gone. Women have been forced to fend for their right to knowledge. Women are often forbidden to visit doctors because most of the physicians in the country are male. \nIt is rumored that the Taliban rulers are not even from Afghanistan. Understandably, the people of the country are scared of their government. On a larger scale, the world has isolated Afghanistan -- including many other countries in the Middle East that are predominantly Muslim. \nIn fact, last month the United Nations imposed sanctions against the Taliban, including a weapons embargo that applied to it and not the northern-based opposition they are fighting.\nThe United Nations was right to impose sanctions on the country. Things are getting worse and worse in Afghanistan. Thousands of children have died. After the Soviet Union bombed it, the country has yet to rebuild itself, and the Taliban has succeeded in making the situation worse. \nThe good news is because the Taliban has proven itself to be a threat to the country as a whole, groups throughout the world are working to overthrow it. In the United States, organizations have formed to address the human rights situation of the women in the country. This international activism provides help a group of people that badly needs in. \nEventually, the Taliban will leave the country, but it won't be before the nation has starved itself of talent, enthusiasm, knowledge and resources. With luck, the United States and other countries will offer help and welcome them back into the world community.