Right now there are about 230 pieces of Central Asian treasures dating back 4 millennia on show in a British Museum in an exhibition called Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World. The story of how these treasures survived the past couple decades gives credit to the importance of justice in a government:
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Mr. Askarzai started an unpaid apprenticeship at 14 in Kabul’s banking institute. As his career progressed, he soon became the resident expert on printing money, and the official key holder for the vaults. During this time, the Soviets, French, and Americans searched Afghanistan for forgotten cities and trade routes dating back to the time of Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan.
In 1978 Soviet archaeologists discovered 6 burial chambers in Tillya Tepe containing 21,000 pieces of treasure undisturbed since the time of Christ. These now wealthy nomads had ornaments, crowns, jewelry, belts, coins (in gold) turquoise, lapis, Indian currency, Greek statues, Chinese mirrors, and saddles.
This gold quickly became the pride of Afghanistan was soon threatened by it fame. When the Soviets left in 1988 the staff at the national museum decided the country’s treasures would be a target for the advancing Mujahideen resistance and they decided to split the treasures up. Mr. Askarzai suggested a strong German-made vault in the presidential grounds to hold the best collection. He was the keeper of the key.
The next few years were some of the cruellest in Kabul. Warlords reduced the city to ruins as they rained rockets, killed, and tortured those in homes. The national museum fell out of government hands and was burned, and looted. During this time 70% of the collection was lost.
When the Taliban took Kabul in 1996, their first visit was to the central bank to check the country’s gold reserves. They burst into Mr. Askarzai’s office threatened his life and demanded to be taken to the vault in the presidential grounds. At the vault, holding weapons to his head, they ordered him to open the vault and they made their way to the chests and questioned what was inside. Mr. Askerzai said, “just ceramics”. They were satisfied with his answer and left.
Mr. Askerzai, thought the Taliban would come back, so he locked the vault for the last time: he turned the key the wrong way and broke the lock. In 2001 as the US began fighting the Taliban, the warlords made one last stop to the vault. Mr. Askerzai informed them the lock was broken. They fired into the air and left. He was then imprisoned. When the president, Hamid Karzai, needed to issue money 3 months later, he was released: Justice prevailed.
In 2003, the secret was told: Cutting torches were used to open the vault. It was not until recently, that Mr. Askerzai would talk about his role in this story as he was fearful of the Taliban and the press. Since then, President Karzai has promised him his job, until he is “carried out on a stretcher.”
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I read Proverbs 29: 4 this week. “By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.” I have seen both justice and bribes here. For example, the cost of fuel in Kandahar is $13/gallon. At times, the effect of bribes seems to outweigh the good the US is trying to facilitate. As Proverbs says, with bribes any country will only continue to be destroyed. As we are making history, may greed diminish from Afghanistan and The True justice prevail. Amen.
