Under the new rules, US customs agents may return seized artifacts to the Taliban—a group with a history of destroying Afghan artifacts.Afghan tourists from Kabul visit the site that housed the famous Buddhas on October 6, 2021 in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Photo by Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images.
The rules, introduced by the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, prohibit a broad range of Afghan artifacts from entering America through at least April 2026. Among the objects on the federal register’s designated list are archaeological material ranging from the Paleolithic era through to the beginning of the Durrani Dynasty , as well as ethnological material from the 9th century through 1920.
Under the rules, for example, U.S. customs agents can seize any artifact on the list that doesn’t come with evidence that it was acquired lawfully prior to the implementation of the new restrictions. The agency would then likely defer to the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, which requires the state to repatriate seized objects to their country of origin.
The new restrictions raise “several ethical questions,” said Peter Tompa, a lawyer and the executive director of Global Heritage Alliance.