[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 915 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 915
To authorize the President to take certain actions to protect
archaeological or ethnological materials of Afghanistan.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 17, 2005
Mr. English of Pennsylvania (for himself, Ms. Hart, Mr. McGovern, Mr.
McDermott, Mr. Holden, and Mr. Payne) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the President to take certain actions to protect
archaeological or ethnological materials of Afghanistan.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Cultural Conservation of the
Crossroads of Civilization Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Afghanistan enjoys a geographical position that made it
a crossroads of civilizations. Its tumultuous history can be
traced back as early as the 4th millennium B.C. and, as a
result, it is a living tapestry of ethnic and linguistic
cultures. Historically as well as artistically, it is a major
contributor to the world community.
(2) Afghanistan, flanked by Central, West, and South Asia,
has seen waves of migrating peoples pass through what has been
referred to as the roundabout of the ancient world.
(3) Archaeologists have identified evidence of Stone Age
technology and a 20,000-year-old sculpture head in Aq Kupruk.
(4) The earliest settlers in Afghanistan, who migrated from
northern territories approximately 50,000 years ago, lived as
individual hunters in the caves of the northern Hindu Kush
mountains.
(5) Evidence has been uncovered at the foothills of the
Hindu Kush Mountains and Darra-e Dadil (near Darra-e Suf),
Hazara Sum (near Aibak), and Qara Kamar (near Khulm) indicating
that North Afghanistan was home to the earliest domestic plants
and animals.
(6) The Khyber Pass, a 33-mile passage through the Hindu
Kush mountain range and dating back to 326 B.C., connects the
northern frontier of Pakistan with Afghanistan.
(7) During the 4th century B.C., Alexander the Great
defeated Darius III. Later on, the last Achaemenid ruler took
control of Afghanistan and introduced to the region Hellenistic
civilizations as well as new coins and artistic styles.
(8) Alexander the Great and his army marched through the
Kunar Valley to reach the plains of India. The Aryan, Persian,
and Greek armies and the Scythian, White Huns, Seljuk, Tartar,
Mongol, Turk, Moghol, and Durrani armies made successful
inroads into territories beyond the Peshawar Valley and
Hindukosh Valleys.
(9) Graeco-Buddhist Gandharan culture reached its height
during the Kushan Empire of Afghanistan.
(10) During the Kushan Empire, under King Kanishka, Buddha
was for the first time represented with a human face. Centuries
later, the world's largest standing Buddha statues, between
120-175 feet tall, were carved into the Great Cliff of Bamiyan.
(11) The Silk Road passed through Afghanistan, bringing
Roman glass and Chinese lacquer ware.
(12) In 962, the rise of the Ghaznavid Dynasty ushered in
the Islamic era and gave Afghanistan a permanent political and
cultural role in Islamic civilization.
(13) In 1219, Changiz (Genghis) Khan invaded Bukhara to
avenge the looting of his caravan. Changiz eventually defeated
Khwarazn Shah and proceeded through Afghanistan in his conquest
of Asia.
(14) Most archaeological material excavated in Afghanistan
during the 20th century was housed in the National Museum in
Kabul or in regional museums.
(15) The Archaeological Institute of America has published
articles listing thousands of artifacts that are among the
stolen or imperiled treasures of the National Museum in Kabul.
(16) The nation of Afghanistan has endured a raping and
pillage of its cultural property over the past two decades,
leading Abdul Wasey Feroozi, former director of the National
Archaeological Institute in Kabul, to state, ``The catastrophe
of war annihilated seventy years of our hard work and
accomplishments. In the period from 1992 to 1994 . . . over 70
percent of the Kabul National Museum was burned and damaged and
100 percent of the objects were stolen or vandalized. Illegal
excavations and extensive clandestine digging started at most
historical sites, and thousands of valuable objects were
transported to other countries, notably through Pakistan, to
the international markets.''.
(17) It should be recognized that the cultural heritage of
Afghanistan is at extreme peril and this legislation is a
result of a profound concern for the damage to Afghan
antiquities, sites, monuments, and cultural institutions.
SEC. 3. EMERGENCY IMPLEMENTATION OF IMPORT RESTRICTIONS.
(a) Authority.--The President may exercise the authority the
President has under section 304 of the Convention on Cultural Property
Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 2603) with respect to any archaeological
or ethnological material of Afghanistan as if Afghanistan were a State
Party under that Act, except that, in exercising such authority,
subsection (c) of such section shall not apply.
(b) Definition.--In this section, the term ``archaeological or
ethnological material of Afghanistan'' means cultural property of
Afghanistan and other items of archaeological, historical, cultural,
rare scientific, or religious importance (including coins, manuscripts,
and statuary artifacts) illegally removed, after the date of the
enactment of this Act, from the National Museum in Kabul or other
locations, including archaeological sites, in Afghanistan.
SEC. 4. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.
The authority of the President under section 3 shall terminate upon
the earlier of--
(1) the date that is 5 years after the date on which the
President certifies to the Congress that normalization of
relations between the United States and the Government of
Afghanistan has been established; or
(2) September 30, 2010.
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