According to a post of Sept. 29 on the Facebook page of the Archaeology Institute of Afghanistan, Professor Liu Bin, Head of the Archaeology Team of the National Archaeological and Cultural Administration of the People’s Republic of China, met in Kabul with Syed Zabihullah Sadat, the Director of Archaeology at the Ministry of Information and Culture of Afghanistan.

The main topic of discussion was the increase of academic and professional cooperation between China and Afghanistan. During this visit, Mr. Sadat also welcomed specialists from the People’s Republic of China and expressed his gratitude for their presence and professional activities in Afghanistan. Professor Liu Bin expressed his appreciation for the warm welcome and cooperation from the leadership and technical team of the Archaeological Education Department in Afghanistan and described the joint archaeological activities at Mes Aynak as positive and beneficial.

Below the ground surface, Mes Aynak is the world’s second-largest copper reserve. Its exploitation would offer urgently needed resources for Afghanistan. But on the surface Mes Aynak also harbors the still unexplored ruins of a vast complex of Buddhist monasteries the size of Pompeii. To avoid destroying this major world cultural heritage by open-pit mining, experts propose underground mining techniques to protect the cultural heritage.

An Afghan field archaeologist who assisted in the discussions, when asked to comment, reported to this author that the meeting was important and clarified the framework in which things could now move forward. Mining activities will be kick-started and, in this case “pre-Islamic” cultural heritage will be fully protected.