Preserving Memory of Afghanistan's Giant Buddhas

Morning Edition, December 13, 2006 · When the Taliban were driven from power in 2001, they left behind a broken country and an infamous act of destruction: reducing to rubble two monumental Buddhas that had stood for 1,500 years. A Buddhist pilgrim from China who followed the Silk Road through Bamiyan in the year 632 wrote that the Buddhas shone with gold and jewels. At the time, they gazed down through the sunlight on a valley bustling with 10 monasteries and 1,000 monks.