Afghan local gov't bans excavation of cultural sites

The provincial government of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar Monday said in a release on its website that it has banned excavation and digging of historical and cultural sites in the province.

"In efforts to protect and preserve historical and cultural heritage sites, arbitrarily digging is banned in those sites all over Nangarhar province," Maulvi Amanullah, director of Eastern Region Historical Monument Directorate, was quoted in the release as saying.

It is the first move in protecting Afghan archeological, historical and cultural sites since the formation of a caretaker government by the Taliban.

The province, some 120 km east of Afghanistan's Kabul, is famous for historical and cultural sites. A total of 122 historical and cultural sites are located in Nangarhar while only 22 of them had been registered and protected in recent years, according to the release.

Scores of cultural relics and items were looted by traffickers and locals after illegal excavation of archaeological sites in Nangarhar in recent years, the release noted.