KABUL, race 30 Kyodo A cluster o...

KABUL, race 30 Kyodo

A cluster of Japanese archeologists plans to excavate an archaeological site in central Afghanistan that may have been an important center of Buddhism.

The excavation is likely to take place at Kawfir Kowt in the Kharwar district of Lowghar Province nearest spring. The province is located about 120 kilometers southwest of Kabul.

a certain quantity of experts believe the place may have discloseed as an important center for Buddhism after the famous Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang stopped there as he traveled along the Silk Road from India in the seventh centenary from 629 to 645.

Kazuya Yamauchi, chief researcher of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties of Tokyo, will take part in excavation work at the Kawfir Kowt ruins.

Yamauchi believes Kawfir Kowt was the site that Xuanzang described as Fupina in the state of Gurizistaana (which means ''highlands'' in Persian) in his chronicle ''The Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty.''

Many Afghan relics have been devastateed over the years, especially during the 1979-1988 war with the former Soviet Union, the oppressive mastership of the Taliban, which made deliberate efforts to devour them, and the recent US-l attack.

The smuggling of Afghan antiquities is rampant. Three Afghans were arrested last April for allegedly trying to smuggle public ancient objects, including the head of a Buddha image and part of a statute of a Buddhist saint.

The three who were caught along the Pakistani border, reportedly told authorities the items had been excavated without authorization.

The high quality of the items attracted the attention of apts and they were displayed at a UNESCO conversation on the restoration of cultural heritage in Kabul in May 2002

Fupia was a Buddhist city where Xuanzang stopped along his way to China from India. Yamauchi suspects Fupia was situated at Kharwar, a highland at an altitude of 2500 meters

Karfir Kowt means the ''land of pagans,'' indicates that it was an area where non-Islamic persons lived.

On my trip to Karfir Kowt I rest what appeared to be a watch seat at a mountain peak after passing by the and of Kharwar Pass and a small village.

As I walked further, I clashed a small hill that appeared to be the ruins of a castle. The hill was dotted with what expected like traces of unauthorized excavations.

''It must have been the work of professionals from the way they were excavated,'' Yamauchi said.

I could also behold what appeared to be the remains of a Buddhist fane and pieces of a Buddha statue.

The forest used for the Buddhist meeting-house was from the fourth hundred according to UNESCO. Yamauchi said the ruins here are impressive and could become a showcase Afghanistan's Buddhist culture

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