Taliban guards Afghanistan’s once-hated Buddhas as it waits for China to turn giant copper deposit into cash

The hardliners, who blew up the statues two decades ago, are now preserving the relics at the Mes Aynak mine estimated to be worth nearly US$1 trillion

The reversal illustrates the powerful allure of Afghanistan’s untapped mining sector as the cash-starved Taliban woos Beijing to restart a stalled project

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Buddha statues inside an ancient temple in Mes Aynak valley, Afghanistan. File photo: AP

Published: 4:12pm, 28 Mar 2022

The ancient Buddha statues sit in serene meditation in the caves carved into the russet cliffs of rural Afghanistan. Hundreds of metres below lies what is believed to be the world’s largest deposit of copper.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are pinning their hopes on Beijing to turn that rich vein into revenue to salvage the cash-starved country amid crippling international sanctions.

The fighters standing guard by the rocky hillside may once have considered destroying the terracotta Buddhas. Two decades ago when the Islamic hardline Taliban were first in power, they sparked world outrage by blowing up gigantic Buddha statues in another part of the country, calling them pagan symbols that must be purged.

But now they are intent on preserving the relics of the Mes Aynak copper mine. Doing so is key to unlocking billions in Chinese investment, said Hakumullah Mubariz, the Taliban head of security at the site, peering into the remnants of a monastery built by first-century Buddhist monks.

“Protecting them is very important to us and the Chinese,” he said.

Previously, Mubariz commanded a Taliban combat unit in the surrounding mountains battling with US-backed Afghan forces. When those troops capitulated last year, his men rushed to secure the site. “We knew it would be important for the country,” he said.