Ex-(Taliban) Governor Elected to Afghan Parliament

[brooklynite]

Tuesday October 18, 2005 5:01 PM

By AMIR SHAH

Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A former regional governor who oversaw the destruction of two massive 1,500-year-old Buddha statues during the Taliban's reign was elected to the Afghan parliament last month, officials said Tuesday as results from two provinces were finalized.

...snip...

Mawlawi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, who was the Taliban's governor of Bamiyan province when the fifth-century Buddha statues were blown up with dynamite and artillery in March 2001, was chosen to represent the neighboring province of Samangan, according to results posted by the U.N.-Afghan election organizers. Election law did not bar former Taliban officials from participating in the Sept. 18 polls.

International outcry followed the destruction of the giant Buddhas, which were chiseled into a cliff and famed for their size and location along the ancient Silk Road linking Europe and Central Asia. Archaeologists in Bamiyan have been painstakingly collecting the stone remains of the two statues - the largest of which was 174 feet high - and are considering rebuilding them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5352146,00.html
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Democracy is on the march...

[rodeodance]

1. recall that Jr said democracy in iraq and afgan does not have to look

likes ours.

[enigma000]

2. I guess PNAC didn't pull an Ohio in Samangan n/t