One of the two Buddha statues in Bamiyan (Afghanistan): on the left is a photo in 1997 before it was destroyed and on the right is a photo in 2001 after it was destroyed.
Tickets to see the remains of the Bamiyan Buddhas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, cost $0.57 for locals and $3.45 for foreigners, The Washington Post reported.
The move was surprising because the Taliban, an Islamic political -military organization, used explosives to destroy the two 1,500-year-old Buddha statues carved into the rock in March 2001. Later that year, the US defeated the Taliban and remained in Afghanistan until August 2021, when the last US troops withdrew and the Taliban returned to power.
The two Buddha statues, measuring 35 and 53 metres tall respectively, have stood in the Bamiyan Valley, in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, since 600 AD and were once a popular tourist attraction. After the Buddha statues were destroyed, the ruins were reduced to bare caves on the cliffs.
Some tourists still come to Bamiyan after the incident. In 2022, about 200,000 tourists visited the area, most of them Afghans, according to Saifurrahman Mohammadi, a local official.
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Afghanistan’s finances have deteriorated since the Taliban returned to power. But some Afghan officials believe that sites like Bamiyan still have the potential to generate significant tourism revenue, even without the Buddhas.
Mr Mohammadi is planning to open a souvenir market nearby. He said he believes that with investment, the site “could still be a significant source of income”.
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