The Last Days of Ancient Buddhist Site: $3 Billion Beats Preservation Effort

PBS NEWSHOUR
By Cindy Huang

Buddha statues discovered inside an ancient monastery in
Mes Aynak, in the eastern province of Logar, Afghanistan.

AFGHANISTAN---When documentary filmmaker Brent Huffman first visited the Buddhist archaeological site of Mes Aynak in eastern Afghanistan in June 2011, he was awed by the 2,600-year-old city, how it stretches for 100 acres, encompassing artifacts, monasteries and more than 200 statues. On Thursday, he's on his way back to bear witness to its last days. Mes Aynak, as it happens, sits on a rich copper mine worth more than $100 billion. In 2007, a 30-year lease was granted to China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) for $3 billion, the largest foreign investment made in the country, according to the Afghan Ministry of Mines. MCC has given archaeologists until the end of December to excavate the site, but according to lead archaeologist Philippe Marquis, a proper excavation of the entire site would take 30 years. [link]