WHITE RIVER VALLEY — One of the tragedies of the Bushian Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been the loss of so much valuable material collected in the museums and other places, not to mention the ancient sites we’ve bombed.

In Iraq, rather than guarding the National Museum, our people stood and watched as the museum was looted. Their orders did not include saving the museums, which Dick Cheney and his Halliburton buddies had no interest in. I do have an interest in the antiques and ancient objects in both countries and lament that so much was lost in Iraq that will never be found because it was smuggled out. Happily much has been found or seized and returned to the museums.

I am also concerned about what has been happening in Afghanistan. Last year the History Channel had a program on what is called the Bactrian Hoard. It is safe! It is an interesting story how the Hoard was found, believed lost and then found.

Because the area that is now Afghanistan was on the Silk Road, some of the artifacts are the result of trade with the Romans, Indians, Chinese and East Asians. Keep in mind that it was Alexander the Great who opened this area to trade. Some historians say that the reason he was able to conquer Afghanistan was that he married a young woman from the area. I don’t accept that, though he did marry a girl from the royal family. He also scared the hell out those people who were so impressed, they named the city of Kandahar after him.

Alexander was a modest man who named only 70 cities after himself, one for his dog and another for his horse. Any more than that would have been considered immodest and proud. But I digress.

The number of treasures in the Bactrian Hoard depends on which account is being read. Some say there are 20,600 pieces of gold and others 22,000. I imagine the difference is whether or not one counts each gold bead and other small pieces separately. Some artifacts are 4,000 years old. There are gold vases, bronze, ivory and stone sculptures of Greek Gods and Goddesses, Corinthian capitals. There is painted glassware, necklaces, belts, rings and other gold ornaments including a sword, and an exquisite crown.

The earliest account of the Bactrians was by the “Father of History,” Herodotus. He described burial practices in what is now called Afghanistan but little else, except that they were horse-riding nomads of the desert.

In 1978 a Russian archeologist, while poking around in northern Afghanistan, found two burial sites containing males and females. One of the males was a king buried with much treasure as befit his royal status. Buried with him were people from his household-the cook, servants,horse handlers and his favorite concubine. I can just see the concubines drawing straws to see who was his favorite. At any rate, the Bactrian Gold and other treasure had been found. It was placed in the National Museum shortly before Russian Spetznatz (Special Forces) seized Kabul at the start of the USSR’s war in Afghanistan. The treasure disappeared.

Many believed that the artifacts had been stolen or lost. But the last Communist president of Afghanistan, Mohammad Najibullah, had moved all of it. He recognized its historical value and cultural heritage of the people. He moved it to a vault under the Central Bank of Afghanistan in Kabul. What I find interesting is the way it was sealed so no one could enter the vault. The doors-and there are more than one-were locked with 7 keys and the vault could only be unlocked by the use of all 7. The 7 keys were given to 7 men who were absolutely trusted. They left the country. Though the Taliban tried to open the doors they could not, nor were they aware that 7 keys were needed. They thought of using explosives to open the doors, however this would cause the vault and all above it to collapse and destroy the Hoard.

American soldiers came to the rescue much like the cavalry in a western movie starring John Wayne, though I don’t think they rode horses to the sound of a bugle, and I’m glad they did. After our invasion and overthrow of the Taliban, the government wanted to open the vault. However the 7 keys with the 7 trusted men were still needed. No one knew who or where the men were. Hamid Karzai had to issue a decree authorizing the attorney general to try safecracking. I don’t know where they looked for expert safecrackers, but a survey of American prisons would surely have found some. For that matter the CIA has some good ones, I’ll warrant. But in the nick of time the Seven Trusted Men (known as tawadars) heard of the problem. They opened the vault and the treasure was intact.

It is now on a tour of the world, presently in Ottawa, Canada. It will be in England in the Spring of 2011. If the Afghanistan War ever ends and the Afghans have a stable government, the treasure can be returned.

Question authority. It’s the American way.

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Budd Saunders has an M.A. in History from the University of Arkansas where he lectured the history of Western Civilization.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 11/04/2009

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