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The Taliban have backed an 18-month-long conservation project to safeguard the Afghan heritage site of Mes Aynak, a 2,000-year-old Buddhist city that is at risk of destruction from a long-delayed mining project.

Located around 40km southeast of Kabul in the province of Logar, Mes Aynak is thought to be home to the second largest untapped copper mine in the world, with deposits worth an estimated $100bn. In 2008, Afghanistans government under then-president Hamid Karzai signed a lucrative contract with a Chinese company to extract its riches through an open-pit copper mine.

The development, which will destroy the ancient city and all its buried secrets, was delayed to allow for further archaeological studies and the relocation of the site's valuable artefacts. With the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, fears grew that the new administration could prevent rescue efforts and press ahead with the mining operations. However, the new government has stressed its intention to preserve the sites archaeological remains.

Now, as part of a $1m project funded by the Swiss foundation Aliph, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has begun works to restore and repair temporary structures that protect more than 50 sites containing archaeological remains at Mes Aynak, including stupas, statues, wall and floor paintings.

These structures were erected as far back as 2010 and many have been deformed under the weight of snow and other environmental factors, Ajmal Maiwandi, the chief executive of AKTC Afghanistan, tells The Art Newspaper. The project is intended to consolidate and replace them with stable protective structures.

The project will also include developing and executing a conservation plan for the ancient remains and a trial run to relocate several artefacts to a nearby site.

A panel of international specialists will soon be deployed to Mes Aynak, Maiwandi says. When the conservation plan is in place we are going to consolidate as many of the artefacts as possible in the year that we have left. A cataloguing process will identify and prioritise the most critical items.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has started working on theprojects first phase to stabilise and expand protective shelters above archaeological remains and artefacts at Mes Aynak Photo: courtesy of AKTC

Afghanistan's ministry of information and culture confirmed that works to safeguard the site's cultural heritage have commenced and that the Taliban government is committed to preserving its artefacts.

The Mes Aynak mine is of economic and cultural value to Afghans. The ministry of information and culture is seeking to ensure that its economic benefits reach Afghans and its cultural and historical treasures remain safe, says Atiqullah Azizi, Afghanistans deputy minister of culture and arts in a video recording provided to The Art Newspaper. He also called for cooperation with the international community in protecting the countrys historic monuments.

Maiwandi says the new conservation project at Mes Aynak is urgent because without knowing exactly when mining operations could begin, we need to act fast.

Excavations during the 15-year hiatus in development have also exposed many artefacts that were previously protected by the earth. The other urgency is to stop the decay and by extension the further destruction of the artefacts through nature and progression of time, Maiwandi adds.

Aliph,a global fund dedicated to the protection and rehabilitation of cultural heritage in conflict and post-conflict areas andcurrently one of only a handful of funders supporting cultural heritage projects in Afghanistan, says it remains committed to saving Afghanistans cultural heritage and to finding the best possible solution to preserve Mes Aynak.

Mes Aynak has been described as one of the most important archaeological finds of the last four decades in the region.The archaeological site includes numerous Buddhist monasteries with stupas, sculptures, wall paintings, Zoroastrian temples, and traces of industrial activity dating to Late Antiquity, says Sandra Bialystok, Aliph's director of communications and partnerships.

The Taliban's destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001 was one of the driving reasons that Aliph was founded in the first place, Bialystok adds. The diverse cultural heritage of Afghanistan is a treasure of Afghan people and also part of the common heritage of humanity, so its protection is essential.

The conservation project is expected to provide much-needed employment for 350 people in Afghanistan including labourers, architects, engineers, archaeologists and technical staff at a time when the country is experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

Maiwandi hints that in time the project could be extended to rescue more artefacts. There are other sites that have to be excavated and more archaeology that needs to happen, he says. That is perhaps a phase two and even a phase three of this project. For us preserving heritage at this site is an important aspect of preserving Afghan cultural patrimony, the main reason that we are involved in the project.

See the rest here:
'We need to act fast': experts race to preserve Afghanistan's ancient ... - Art Newspaper

India on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Food Programme (WFP) paving the way for sending 10,000 metric tonnes of wheat for the people of Afghanistan. The signing ceremony between officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and the United Nations WFP was held in Mumbai where the WFP assured that it had the required infrastructure on the ground to ensure speedy delivery of wheat to the most vulnerable sections of the Afghan population.

The fifth tranche [to be shipped through the Chahbahar port of Iran], builds upon assistance already delivered to those who need it most by the WFP in Afghanistan. India has delivered on its commitment, standing by the historical relations between the people of the two countries and the pressing needs on the ground, said Joint Secretary of PAI division, Ministry of External Affairs, J.P. Singh.

In a press note, the WFP said it had a massive supply chain and logistics infrastructure in Afghanistan that could help in ensuring that the food supply reached those who need it the most and no one is excluded. Thursdays MoU follows from the Indian declaration made last month at the India Central Asia Joint Working Group on Afghanistan saying that 20,000 MT of wheat would be sent through the Iranian port of Chahbahar. The decision indicated that India would not send humanitarian assistance such as food and medicines to Afghanistan through the transit route over Pakistan.

Sincere gratitude to the Indian government for food assistance to the people of Afghanistan. Indias support has been a lifeline for families in need and is an important part of WFPs assistance to millions of people across Afghanistan, said Elisabeth Faure, Representative and Country Director, WFP in India on Thursday. The WFP painted a picture of serious crisis in Afghanistan saying that nine out of 10 Afghan families could not afford enough food at present and at least 20 million Afghans were facing threat of starvation. Six million of them are one step away from famine, it said.

India has not recognised the Taliban government in Kabul which took charge in August 2021 through a quick military campaign that unfolded alongside the withdrawal of the American forces in Afghanistan. But India has maintained that it requires unimpeded access to the people of Afghanistan to ensure that the humanitarian goods that are being sent reaches them without getting diverted to the tribal warlords and local Taliban leaders. The WFP appreciated Indias initiative saying Afghanistans crisis is unprecedented as it is a combination of decades-long conflict, drought, economic crisis and the 6.5 magnitude earthquake that hit northeast Afghanistan last month.

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India signs MoU with World Food Programme for sending wheat to Afghanistan - The Hindu

PORT ST. LUCIE The city has been selected from among more than 50 locations across the state for a new war memorial honoring Floridians who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Iraq and Afghanistan War Memorial Foundation announced.

The monument will be built in Veterans Memorial Park, and could be completed by early 2024, according to Steve Udovich, founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan War Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit in Dunedin.

The 6-foot-tall, 15-foot-wide memorial will be made from India black granite, and join other war memorials in the park such as the Vietnam Veterans Wall, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Purple Heart Memorial and Gold Star Families Memorial.

"This is unique. There's no other monument like it in the state," Udovich said.

Veterans Memorial Park is at 2100 SE Veterans Memorial Parkway.

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The front of the memorial will feature outlines of Iraq and Afghanistan and service emblems. The back will list names of the 355 Floridians killed in each war.

PG Memorials will build the monument. The company has constructed veterans monuments across the nation such as the Fallen Warriors memorial in Philadelphia and the Key West Living Vietnam Memorial Wall.

The idea for an Afghanistan and Iraq war memorial came to Udovich, a retired Army infantry officer, when he moved to Florida from Delaware four years ago, he said.

"It was one of those things where it's sitting in a file, and you're looking at it week after week and eventually you just say, 'We got to get this done," Udovich said.

Cities such as Fort Pierce, Stuart, Freeport and Sebring were considered for the memorial, said Udovich, who has worked on the project with partners Kim Allison, a Gold Star mother; and Phil Wyllie, a retired Army Special Forces officer.

However, Port St. Lucie, unlike others, already had a central location that was home to multiple war memorials, making the new Iraq and Afghanistan memorial the perfect addition.

"Stuart and Fort Pierce, for example, both have beautiful veterans memorial parks with a few nice memorials, but if you go put in our monument in there, you're going to disturb their current presentation," Udovich said.

Support from the Port St. Lucie City Council and local veterans organizations, such as American Legion Post 318 and Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 566, also played a factor in Port St. Lucie's selection, he added.

"This memorial is very important to us, because we want to pass on the legacy to younger veterans," said Steven Cameron, membership director of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 566. "They will now be honored here, too, and we can look to them to take care of the memorials after we (Vietnam veterans) go on."

The local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter, which has about 100 members, has donated at least $500 to the Afghanistan and Iraq memorial, Cameron said.

Udovich hopes the project acts as a catalyst for similar memorials to be built in other states, he said.

The foundation has raised about $52,000 for the memorial, as of Monday, Udovich said; $40,000 is still needed.

To donate, go to http://www.IAWMF.org.

Link:
Statewide Iraq and Afghanistan veterans memorial will be built in ... - TCPalm

To The Eagle:

For seven years the Biden regime kept accusing Trump with false allegations they could never prove. The latest is unspeakable; an allegedly one time sex with Stormy Daniels that supposedly happened 17 years ago. How in hells bells did they come up with 37 counts for an allegedly one time sex as a felony? If it did happen, so what? Nothing to brag about. Lets face it, many of our past presidents had mistresses to frolic with; only a handful of presidents were ever faithful to their wives.

What has the media not reported? The CCP paid millions of dollars to the Biden family for helping them get into various industries here in America. As I mentioned before, CCP Police Stations exist in LA and NYC. What about the CCP balloon episode floating across our country?

Ashley Biden at 40 years old entered a rehab center for drugs and sex addiction. In her diary she wrote I remember having sex with friends @ a young age; showers w/my dad, probably not appropriate. Hunter is no angel either.

Finally, video footage of the Jan 6 rally has been released but there are still more the FBI and the Biden regime stole that have not been released. We saw in the video millions of American people just stood outside the Capitol with flags and cell phones, no weapons. The Capitol Police took the first shot. The Jan 6 Committee and the Biden regime purposely edited the video to make us look violent. The violent were BLM and Antifa. They all ought to be put in solitary confinement in the same cells they put the innocents in for the same amount of time or longer. The innocents have not been released yet.

In other breaking news, Biden blamed Trump for the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021. Who was President then?

This is real news. Stay tuned for part 2.

Toni Below

Cathlamet

Original post:
Biden blamed Trump for Afghanistan withdrawal - The Wahkiakum County Eagle

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) The Taliban have shared a rare, months-old audio message from their reclusive supreme leader in which he purportedly says that Afghanistan would be ruined without justice handed out by the countrys new rulers.

The Taliban leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, an Islamic scholar, almost never appears in public and hardly ever leaves the Taliban heartland in southern Kandahar province. He surrounds himself with other religious scholars and allies who oppose education and work for women. Only one known photo of him, years old, exists.

He was named the Taliban leader in 2016, after a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan killed his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour.

Since the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021, Akhundzada has traveled to Kabul only once, to give a speech to a gathering of clerics. However, he was not shown in the media at the time and appeared with his back to the audience.

The audio recording was shared on Twitter by the main Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, on Wednesday. In it, a voice that Mujahid says belongs to Akhundzada declares that justice is an instrument for the survival of the Taliban government.

The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify that the voice on the audio message is Akhundzadas.

But if there is no justice, and there is oppression, selfishness, murders and revenge, as well as killings without courts, this country will be ruined, says the voice, then adds that this can be prevented through the right decision of religious scholars and its proper implementation by the government.

According to the spokesman, the recording was from a speech given five or six months ago to Taliban officials at an unspecified location. There was no word on why the recording was released at this time.

Pakistan-based journalist Ahmed Rashid, who has written several books about the Taliban, said the clip addressed none of the issues facing the Taliban, such as womens rights and the countrys deepening humanitarian crisis.

There doesnt seem to be a political purpose to this clip. Its very unusual to hear from him, Rashid said, adding that its irrelevant to the population.

In January, Mujahid tweeted that Akhundzada met religious scholars from different provinces. He also tweeted about the leaders February meeting with commanders and other high-ranking security officials.

Akhundzada appears to have taken a stronger hand in directing domestic policy. He ordered women and girls barred from universities and schools after the sixth grade. He has also issued the edicts barring Afghan women from working for non-governmental organizations and the United Nations.

See more here:
Taliban share rare, months-old audio from reclusive leader - The Associated Press