away and recycled as bases for the columns in tcha-khan while hundreds of ivory pieces, jewelry, intaglios, plaster medallions, bronze items, precious coins and statuettes have found their way to Pakistani bazaars and private collections. Historian and numismatist, Osmund Bopearachchi describes the gravity of loss: "The objects that I have seen personally in Pakistani bazaars do not represent one-tenth of the artifacts that have been dispersed in international art markets." To date, some of the looted or otherwise removed pieces from Ai Khanoum have been found and restored. However, the architectural infrastructure of the lower city is destroyed in its entirety. Craters now occupy the space where Ai Khanoum's lower city once existed. Mir Zakah Treasure A rare find in Mir Zakah, located in Pakhtia province on the Pakistan border is loosely related to the numismatic knowledge of the Greco-Bactrian era, for which Ai Khanoum provided significant insight. Between 1992 and 1995 one of the largest deposit of coins known in the history of currencies was discovered at the bottom of a well. The circumstances surrounding the treasure's discovery remain unknown to this day. The coin deposit is calculated to contain more than four tons of minted metal, near 550,000 coins of mostly silver and bronze and 350 kilograms of gold. The numismatic travesty of this profound discovery is, according to reliable sources, two and a half tons of the coins had been taken to Switzerland for sale. The National Kabul Museum Beginning during the Soviet occupation that carried through the Taliban insurgence, it is said the Kabul Museum was arguably one of the greatest casualties Afghanistan suffered. As a result of the Soviet and Taliban occupation, more than two thirds of the museums treasures and artifacts were lost or destroyed. During this period of political complication, the museum agonized greatly from its location in the suburbs of Kabul as it was on the frontline of much of the Soviet combat. Until 1992, more than one hundred thousand objects belonging to periods from prehistory to twentieth century were conserved and partially displayed in the museum. From 1992 onward, more than 70 percent of objects in the National Museums collection and 100 percent of the objects deposited in the Archeological Institute, located nearby, were plundered and exported to bordering countries for sale. Meanwhile, clandestine excavations took place throughout the country where the artifacts were illicitly trafficked into international black markets. In