KHARWAR, JULY 22: But that ancient heritage is in danger of being lost forever — a victim of the ravaging combination of destructive natural elements and the plundering greed of treasure seekers.

The city, called Kafir Koot (Fort of the Infidel) is thought to have flourished between the third and fifth centuries AD. Buddhism was still the predominant faith in Afghanistan by virtue of its strategic location on the ancient silk route — an international highway of cultures and religions from Europe to China.

Those Buddhist roots have struggled to survive in Afghanistan, where a combination of decades of occupation and conflict and a return to a more fundamental interpretation of Islam have diluted the appreciation of pre-Islamic history.

The destruction of Afghanistan’s past reached its zenith last year when the Taliban ordered that two towering statues of Buddha at Bamiyan be blown up, on the grounds they were graven images. Despite protests from around the world — including other Muslim countries — the Taliban also ordered remaining pre-Islamic relics in the oft-looted Kabul museum to be destroyed.

Many people date the downfall of the Taliban from that cultural outrage rather than the US led war. But what the Taliban could not see they could not destroy, and Afghan scientists and archaeologists hope that Kafir Koot may yet yield a treasure trove of historical artefacts.

‘‘The discovery of this town is important for us and I think for everybody,’’ Information and Cultural Minister Raheen Makhdoom said.

He said the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) had agreed to take immediate steps to try to protect the site from further desecration and looting, and to study it for clues to the past. Makhdoom will travel to Japan soon to meet with UNESCO representatives to discuss the project. (Reuters)