Editor's Notebook: Misplaced Focus in Afghanistan

A top Taliban official reported to United Nations Secretary General Kofi A. Annan on Monday that the demolition of the two great standing Buddhas of Bamiyan was complete, dashing hopes that the last minute intervention could save the statues. Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar's edict that ordered all images and statues deemed "offensive to Islam" be destroyed was finally carried out. But the destruction did not go unnoticed. Government and religious leaders from around the world, as well as scholars and international aid organizations, rightfully denounced the mullah's decision as a coldly calculated maneuver designed to eliminate Buddhism and other faiths from Afghanistan. It was heartening to find that the Taliban's vandalism of the world's cultural heritage had drawn almost universal condemnation.

At the same time, however, it is striking how much more attention the destruction of stone statues has gathered in comparison to the destruction of human lives under the Taliban regime. It is indeed unfortunate when the irreplaceable artifacts in our collective cultural heritage are robbed from the contemplation and use of future generations. But it is a far greater tragedy that the people of Afghanistan are deprived of their dignity by an unelected theocracy that oppresses its citizens in the name of a particular interpretation of Koranic law that is not accepted by the majority of Islamic scholars. Where do our priorities truly lie and where should they lie?

Afghanistan is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. Its infrastructure is woefully unprepared to support the thousands of displaced people living in refugee camps scattered throughout the country. The World Food Program estimates that over a million people may face starvation over the next year, caused by crop failures and the toll exacted by continuous warfare. The government refuses to provide education for females and strips women of any semblance of equality. Apart from a flurry of protest when these issues were first exposed, they quickly faded below the threshold of the world's attention.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced that it would continue efforts to salvage other Afghan relics targeted for destruction, while museums offered the Taliban funds to transport the remaining objects of historical interest out of the country. But this policy demonstrates the absurd double standard of allocating resources to save art instead of lives. Our willingness to overlook the Taliban's illegitimate control of the statues in the first place is a glaring demonstration of our misplaced priorities in that we would negotiate for art but not for the betterment of living conditions.

In any case, UNESCO policy is misconceived, because it is predicated on the assumption that the Taliban legitimately controls the statues. We would not be willing to bargain with terrorists for the release of a person; it is inconceivable that we would be willing to make a deal over a carved piece of stone, however rich in historical significance. In both cases, the aggressor possesses power because they have control over what is not theirs.

If it is inappropriate to bargain with the Taliban over the statues, then what may we do? Any physical retaliation would be a disproportionate response--although the statues are precious, they certainly do not warrant the loss of human life. Instead, we should redirect our energies toward helping those people who already bear the burden of living under an oppressive regime. The senseless barbarisms that the Taliban may perpetrate should not distract from our obligation to render humanitarian assistance to the people who live under it.