Kabul
\nAfghanistan\u00b4s national museum is once again welcoming visitors and exhibiting pre-Islamic artefacts with the Taliban\u00b4s blessing, a stark contrast to when the group ransacked and shuttered the facility during their last stint in power.
\nA trickle of citizens made their way around the sprawling exhibit rooms in Kabul when AFP recently visited, marvelling at treasures ranging from painted Stone Age pottery to ancient coins and religious items.
\n\u201cIt\u00b4s inborn in humans that they attach value to their history,\u201d said Rahmatullah, 65, after intently examining a collection of 2,000-year-old swords.
\n\u201cI wanted to know more about the history of my country. It has a special place in my heart\u201d.
\nThe museum reopened in late November with permission from the Taliban\u00b4s new ministry of information and culture, around three months after the group retook power and ended their two-decade insurgency.
\nSome artefacts on open display are fundamentally at odds with the Taliban\u00b4s radical ideology, including pottery collections featuring images of animals and humans.
\nDuring their first 1996-2001 rule, Taliban fighters destroyed items including statues at the museum, while tens of thousands of items were looted and never recovered.
\nIn that period, the group also blew up 1,500-year-old giant statues of the Buddha in the central Bamiyan valley.
\nBut Taliban fighters now guard the museum and its treasures from potential attack by insurgents.
\nAccording to chief curator Ainuddin Sadaqat, there has been no attempt to restrict what is on display.
\nOnly \u201c15 to 20 percent of exhibits are of Islamic heritage\u201d, the 35-year-old told medis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kabul Afghanistan\u00b4s national museum is once again welcoming visitors and exhibiting pre-Islamic artefacts with the Taliban\u00b4s blessing, a stark contrast to when the group ransacked and shuttered the facility during their last stint in power. A trickle of citizens made their way around the sprawling exhibit rooms in Kabul when AFP recently visited, marvelling at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2004,2005,2003,192],"class_list":{"0":"post-234423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-afghan-national-museum","9":"tag-museum","10":"tag-permission","11":"tag-taliban"},"yoast_head":"\n