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Afghan Minister Seeks Help to Save Cultural Relics
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
By Hiroko Ihara
Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

"I want Japan to help us in several ways. We would like the government, museums, individuals and other organizations to help us build museums, even just small ones."

SHIGARAKICHO, Shiga -- DY
Afghanistan's archeological artifacts are in danger of disappearing or being destroyed unless the international community intervenes, a top Afghan official has warned.

Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, the country's information and culture minister, said many Buddhist remains, dating from the second to the fifth centuries, had emerged unscathed from years of war but were now being looted on a massive scale.

"Many have been stolen," Raheen told The Daily Yomiuri in an interview on the sidelines of a symposium at the Miho Museum in Shigarakicho, Shiga Prefecture, last week.

"Mafia figures are coming in from outside, too. We must start legal excavation work before they take everything, or many items will be lost.
(More: Yomiuri.co.jp News Source)
2002 © The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Dan