The US has imposed import restrictions on cultural and historical objects from Afghanistan in order to prevent “terrorists” from benefitting, according to the State Department, although experts have expressed concerns about unforeseen repercussions.
According to a government list, the edict, which was implemented on an “emergency” basis and took effect on Friday, places limits on importing ceramics, paintings, glass, ivory, historic textiles, tiles, and wood pieces into the nation.
“These import restrictions are intended to prevent illicitly trafficked materials from entering the US art market,” the State Department said in a statement, “thereby reducing the incentive for pillaging Afghanistan’s cultural heritage and combating profit from the sale of these cultural objects by terrorists and criminal organizations.”
Because of “circumstances in Afghanistan,” the State Department announced it was taking unilateral measures to impose the emergency import restrictions.
A collection of 33 artworks confiscated from a New York-based art dealer – who police claim was one of the world’s most prolific antiquities smugglers – was returned to Afghanistan in April 2021 after a request from the US-backed Afghan government.
“Can the State Department respond based on a request from a defunct government?” In a post on his blog, Cultural Property Observer, ancient coin collector and campaigner Peter Tompa posed the question.
“The real question is how these limits will be implemented,” he said, “and whether any material collected would be returned to the Taliban once diplomatic relations [with the US] are established.”
Restricted archaeological material dates from 50,000 BC to 1747, and restricted cultural material dates from the ninth century to 1920, the government said.
According to the art newspaper The Art Newspaper, the new limitations could cause logistical challenges for collectors or curators who already have objects on their way to the US as auction houses prepare to sell works during Asia Week New York next month.
Workers of the Afghan National Museum in Kabul, Afghanistan, stand next to artifacts that were smuggled to the United States during the conflicts and have since been returned to the museum.
Artifacts taken to the United States during the conflicts were returned to the Afghan National Museum in Kabul, Afghanistan, in April 2021, just before the Taliban took control.
One advantage of the import rules, which are slated to last through April 2026 and could be extended, is that they do not appear to include bans on newer textiles, according to Tompa.
“If that happens, such import restrictions might wreak havoc on Afghan women’s livelihoods who make a living weaving fabric for export,” he said.
Last year, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) urged the Taliban to assist in the preservation of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.
The Taliban demolished two massive centuries-old Buddha sculptures carved out of a rock face in Bamiyan shortly before their first term in office ended in 2001, causing an international outcry.
Following the Taliban takeover in 2021, local officials and former UNESCO staff based in Afghanistan said the AFP news agency that over 1,000 precious antiquities originally held in warehouses near the sculptures were taken or destroyed.
“I confirm that looting occurred, but it occurred before our arrival,” local Taliban member Saifurrahman Mohammadi told AFP in October, blaming the thefts on the vacuum left by the previous government’s departure.
“We’re looking into it and attempting to get them back,” he said.
This time around, the Taliban has pledged a gentler rule, and Taliban men are now guarding what remains of the Buddhist sculptures.
The Taliban reopened the Historical Museum of Afghanistan in December 2021, after members of the group bulldozed their way through the complex, destroying valuable items of the country’s national heritage. The edifice in Kabul, the capital, is now guarded by the Taliban.
