The operation lasted 25 days in March, 2001, when Taliban members from all over Afghanistan worked to destroy the Buddhas, deemed offensive to Islam, in the Bamiyan valley.An ex-combatant with the Hazara militia of Hezb-i-Wardat, Mirza Hussein was a prisoner of Taliban at the time. ‘‘One day, I saw many pick-ups overflowing with Taliban with their heads swathed in black turbans,’’ he said. ‘‘They posted a T-55 tank about 300 metres in front of largest Buddha, and they started to ram it, but without any result,’’ he said.‘‘Then they brought trucks full of bombs and ammunition.’’ Hussein and 10 others were forced to unload the munitions and pile them at the foot of the statues.“Started by a detonator at the end of a cable, the explosion was enormous,’’ Hussein said. But when the immense cloud of dust settled, Hussein said, the largest of the Buddhas was still upright, dominating the valley.‘‘Only the lower part of the statue had been destroyed,’’ he said. The commanders then held lengthy discussions with Pakistani and Saudi technicians who arrived that day in three pick-up trucks,’’ Hussein said. They started working on the smaller Buddha. They piled explosives at the foot of the statue with hundreds of sand bags. The shockwaves were strong enough to destroy the Buddhas.
