Afghan museum restores Buddhist history, one broken piece at a time

Pieces of statues damaged by the Taliban are laid out on a table for restoration at the National Museum in Kabul, Afghanistan October 13, 2019. picture taken October 13, 2019.REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

KABUL (Reuters) - Restoring Afghanistan's Buddhist artifacts that were destroyed by the Taliban 18 years ago is like working on a 1,500-year-old jigsaw puzzle, say conservators working on the latest restoration project.

The militant Islamic group in 2001 destroyed artifacts dating from the third century when many Afghans practised Buddhism, including two towering Buddha statues in Bamyan province and scores of smaller ones excavated from monasteries and preserved at the national museum in Kabul.