In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, conservator Sherazuddin Saifi works on pieces of a small statue damaged by the Taliban because they were judged to be against Islam, at the National Museum of Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Museum workers in Kabul have been trying to fit shattered antiquities together again as a nervous country waits for the Taliban and the U.S. to reach a deal on ending America’s longest war. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, a complete figure of a seated Buddha dating from the third or fourth century is on display at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan. As an Afghanistan peace deal nears, museum workers rush to restore art shattered by Taliban amid fears over its return. Conservator Sherazuddin Saifi remembers the day the Taliban arrived at the national museum in 2001, a period of cultural rampage in which the world’s largest standing Buddha statues in Bamyan province were dynamited, to global horror. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, conservator M. Ghufran Hanifi works on a piece of a small statue that was damaged by the Taliban because they were judged to be against Islam, at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan. What the Taliban fighters left behind is laid out on tables at the National Museum of Afghanistan, 18 years later. Museum workers in Kabul have been trying to fit them together again as a nervous country waits for the Taliban and the U.S. to reach a deal on ending America’s longest war. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, the foot of a giant Zeus statue is on display at the Afghan National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Taliban fighters arrived with hammers and hatred. What they left behind is laid out on tables at the National Museum of Afghanistan, 18 years later. Museum workers in Kabul have been trying to fit them together again as a nervous country waits for the Taliban and the U.S. to reach a deal on ending America’s longest war. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, conservator Sherazuddin Saifi, works on pieces of a small statue damaged by the Taliban because they were judged to be against Islam, at the National Museum of Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Saifi remembers the day the Taliban arrived at the national museum in 2001, a period of cultural rampage in which the world’s largest standing Buddha statues in Bamyan province were dynamited, to global horror. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, Museum Director Mohammad Fahim Rahimi, speaks with The Associated Press at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Taliban fighters arrived with hammers and hatred. What they left behind is laid out on tables at the National Museum of Afghanistan, 18 years later. A few hundred objects have been restored in recent years. Rahimi is very concerned about the potential Taliban return and is making plans to protect the museum’s holdings. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, women tour the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Taliban fighters arrived at the museum with hammers and hatred. Fragments of what they left behind have been laid out on tables, 18 years later: shattered pieces of ancient Buddha figurines smashed because they were judged to be against Islam. Now museum workers are trying to fit them together again as the Taliban and the U.S. near a deal on ending the war. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, a gray marble basin with Islamic calligraphy inscriptions from the 16th century is on display at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. The Taliban fighters arrived with hammers and hatred. Fragments of what they left behind have been laid out on tables at the National Museum of Afghanistan, 18 years later: shattered pieces of ancient Buddha figurines smashed because they were judged to be against Islam. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, a statue which was destroyed by Taliban fighters is on display after it was restored, at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Taliban fighters arrived with hammers and hatred. Fragments of what they left behind have been laid out on tables at the National Museum of Afghanistan, 18 years later: shattered pieces of ancient Buddha figurines smashed because they were judged to be against Islam. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, conservator M. Ghufran Hanifi works on a piece of a small statue that was damaged by the Taliban because they were judged to be against Islam, at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan. What the Taliban fighters left behind is laid out on tables at the National Museum of Afghanistan, 18 years later. Museum workers in Kabul have been trying to fit them together again as a nervous country waits for the Taliban and the U.S. to reach a deal on ending America’s longest war. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, small statues damaged by the Taliban are laid out on a table for restoration at the National Museum of Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Taliban fighters armed with hammers 18 years ago shattered ancient Buddha figurines because they were judged to be against Islam. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
In this Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 photo, a man enters the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan. Taliban fighters armed with hammers 18 years ago shattered ancient Buddha figurines because they were judged to be against Islam. A few hundred objects have been restored in recent years. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)