Foreign Policy magazine quoted local sources as saying that Mullah Abdullah Sarhadi, the Taliban governor in Bamyan, was "monitoring the looting of antiquities in the Buddha of Bamyan area."

Mullah Sarhadi is one of those who was involved in the destruction Buddha of Bamyan in 2001 by order of Mullah Omar.
Mullah Sarhadi is looking for valuable works similar to gold ornaments that were exhibited in the "Gold Hill" collection. The Gold Hill artifacts, discovered by Afghan and Soviet archaeologists in northern Afghanistan between 1977 and 1978, date back to 2,000 BC.

To prevent the destruction and looting of Talatpe's artifacts during the Mujahideen's wars and Taliban rule, staff at the Afghan National Museum hid it in the presidential palace, which was first opened to the public in 2004.
"The border has brought non-Afghan workers [to Bamyan] to dig and loot antiquities." Earlier, the English-language monthly Art newspaper reported in February that two ancient sites around destroyed Bamyan idols, including some caves, had been excavated by an "unknown group".

Foreign policy quotes sources as saying that Taliban officials have ordered Mullah Sarhadi to stop drilling. However, a former UNESCO official said, "They [the Taliban] stole a lot of treasures and monuments from Bamyan and sold them on the black market. "Now [the border] is back to finish their work."

The Bamyan Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a World Heritage Site. The organization has called on the Taliban to protect the area.