No More Wars between Civilizations

　Xuanzang, very famous Chinese Buddhist priest who traveled to India in order to obtain Buddhist scriptures in the 7^th century, is said to have seen in Bamiyan a huge Buddhist statue that gave off golden gleams.　That Great Buddha is now in danger of being completely destroyed by the Taliban, the revolutionary organization, who now control ninety percent of Afghanistan.　It is not only the Great Buddha that is in danger.　The leader of this fundamentalist movement, Mullah Muhammad Omar, announced that they would follow Islamic teachings and destroy all the idols in the country.　In fact, the destruction has already begun as is seen in the blasting of the Kabul Museum.　A large number of Gandhara works of art, the very fruit of the encounter between Eastern and Western civilizations, a noteworthy event in the history of man, are now on the verge of ruin.

　In order to prevent such barbaric acts, strenuous efforts have been continued-an urgent appeal made by Ikuo Hirayama, noted artist who proposes the Red Cross movement for cultural heritage, under joint signature of the curators of the world's eight major museums; the dispatch of UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura's special envoy to Afghanistan; an attempt of person-to-person talks with the Taliban authorities by three members of the Japanese Diet.　When the Id al-Adha holiday is over, however, will the Taliban really stop their attacks?

　It should be noted that the United States and other Western nations are trying to close in on the Taliban from all sides to suffocate them, condemning them as the fundamentalists who support terrorists.　As a result, one million Afghans, who have nothing to do with politics, are facing starvation.

　What we need now is dialogues that transcend politics and religion.　If we label the fundamentalists inculcated with their tenets as criminals, nothing will be left but "war between civilizations".　Dialogues will certainly awake reason inherent in all human beings.　Mankind should have enough wisdom to avoid the realization of the nightmarish structure that Samuel Huntington (*) described.　　　　　(2001.3.8)