アフガン国立博物館、展示を再開　寛容な姿勢示すタリバン

【カブールＡＦＰ＝時事】アフガニスタンの国立博物館が展示を再開した──イスラム教が現れる前の遺物の展示に対し、イスラム主義組織タリバンは寛容な姿勢を示している。彫像を含む展示品を破壊したり、略奪したりした前のタリバン政権とは対照的だ。（写真は再開されたアフガニスタン・カブールの国立博物館で展示物を見る来館者）
　２０００年前の剣のコレクションを見ていた来館者（６５）は、「自分たちの歴史に価値を見出そうとするのは、人が生まれながらにして持つ特性なのです」とＡＦＰに語った。
　タリバンが８月に実権を掌握してから３か月、博物館は新政権の情報・文化省の許可を受けて１１月に展示を再開した。
　展示物の一部には、人間や動物のイメージがあしらわれた焼き物など、タリバンの思想とは基本的に相いれないものも含まれている。
　しかし、敵対するイスラム過激派組織「イスラム国（ＩＳ）」などのグループから博物館とその所蔵品を守るため、現在施設の護衛に当たっているのは、タリバンの戦闘員だ。
　欧米諸国から支援を受けていた前政権が崩壊して以降、国際社会からの財政支援が停止しているアフガニスタン。新タリバン政権は、経済制裁の解除を模索する中でより穏健なイメージを示そうとしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/12/28-11:59）

Afghanistan's national museum is once again welcoming visitors and exhibiting pre-Islamic artefacts with the Taliban's blessing -- a stark contrast to when the hardliners ransacked and shuttered the facility during their last stint in power.
A trickle of citizens made their way around the sprawling exhibit rooms in Kabul when AFP recently visited, marvelling at treasures ranging from painted Stone Age pottery to ancient coins and religious items.
It's inborn in humans that they attach value to their history, said Rahmatullah, 65, after intently examining a collection of 2,000-year-old swords.
I wanted to know more about the history of my country. It has a special place in my heart.
The museum reopened in late November with permission from the Taliban's new ministry of information and culture, around three months after the Islamists retook power and ended their two-decade insurgency.
Some artefacts on open display are fundamentally at odds with the Taliban's radical ideology, including pottery collections featuring images of animals and humans.
During their first 1996-2001 rule, Taliban fighters destroyed items including statues at the museum, while tens of thousands of items were looted and never recovered.
In that period, the Islamists also blew up 1,500-year-old giant statues of the Buddha in the central Bamiyan valley.
But Taliban fighters now guard the museum and its treasures from potential attack by Islamic State insurgents.
According to chief curator Ainuddin Sadaqat, there has been no attempt to restrict what is on display.
Only 15 to 20 percent of exhibits are of Islamic heritage, the 35-year-old told AFP.
We also have visitors from the Taliban, who sometimes come to tour the museum in large numbers, Sadaqat said.
The reopening comes as the hardline Islamists try to present a more moderate image while seeking to unlock billions of dollars in international aid suspended since the fall of the western-backed government and for sanctions to be lifted.
- 'Felt hopeful' -
The museum also boasts a collection of 18th- and 19th-century jewellery.
I came here to see the jewellery ?- what it looked like in the past; the necklaces, earrings, said Zohal, 24, who only gave her first name.
I wanted to see the difference between the jewellery of the past and what we have now, said this Afghan woman, who works for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Visitor numbers are well below the hundreds who used to visit daily under the previous regime -- a time when numbers were swollen by coachloads of children.
For the moment, the cultural policy of the Taliban towards artefacts does seem very positive and realistic, said Philippe Marquis, who formerly headed the French archaeological delegation in Afghanistan.
Future policy will probably depend on the reaction of the international community to Taliban pleas to restore suspended aid, he added, with the risk that withholding such assistance will result in backsliding in culture and other policy areas.
Another key cultural institution, the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, remains closed. Its director Ahmad Naser Sarmast fled the country along with hundreds of staff, students and their families.