<P> They were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban , on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar , after the Taliban government declared that they were idols . An envoy visiting the United States in the following weeks said that they were destroyed to protest international aid exclusively reserved for statue maintenance while Afghanistan was experiencing famine , while the Afghan Foreign Minister claimed that the destruction was merely about carrying out Islamic religious iconoclasm . International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas , which in the following years was primarily viewed as an example of the extreme religious intolerance of the Taliban . Japan and Switzerland , among others , have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues . </P>
<P> They were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban , on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar , after the Taliban government declared that they were idols . An envoy visiting the United States in the following weeks said that they were destroyed to protest international aid exclusively reserved for statue maintenance while Afghanistan was experiencing famine , while the Afghan Foreign Minister claimed that the destruction was merely about carrying out Islamic religious iconoclasm . International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas , which in the following years was primarily viewed as an example of the extreme religious intolerance of the Taliban . Japan and Switzerland , among others , have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues . </P>
buddas of bamiyan demolished in 2001 in which country
buddas of bamiyan demolished in 2001 in which country
Afghanistan
Afghanistan