Thai PM Offers to Rebuild Afghan’s Destroyed Buddhas

June 19, 2006

Source: The Guardian

Wire Service: AP

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1800632,00.html

On June 19, 2006 the Associated Press reported, "The Thai prime minister has offered to take the remains of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, which were destroyed by Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, and rebuild them in Thailand. Thaksin Shinawatra made the proposal to reconstruct the two 1,600-year-old statues to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. Mr Karzai said that it was a 'good idea' and that he would discuss it with his government, Mr Thaksin said after returning from a summit in Kazakhstan. The Taliban used dynamite and artillery to blast the fifth-century statues in 2001, disregarding worldwide protests."