In case anyone doesn't recall, this is Afghanistan in 2001. One might say, this was a precursor to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Now we are witnessing the Salafists doing the same thing. They are the equivalent to the Taliban and it could be said they have ties to al Qaeda considering al-Zawahiri's bother in Egypt.
During the destruction, Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal lamented that, "this work of destruction is not as simple as people might think. You can't knock down the statues by shelling as both are carved into a cliff; they are firmly attached to the mountain."
To be as honest as I can be I sincerely believe we are seeing the rise of the fundamentalists behind al Qaeda in the Salafists.
