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New Zealand soldiers helping with the rebuilding of war-torn Afghanistan have returned priceless artefacts more than 1300 years old.
The Army said soldiers deployed in the Bamyan Province had been told of an illicit trade in heritage items and confiscated several items shown to them by a local man.
New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team (NZPRT) commander Colonel Roger McElwain, said the soldiers were well aware of the value of history to a nation.
The small statues and coins were estimated by a local expert to be from the seventh or eighth century AD.
They were exactly the sort of items the government had been trying to safeguard, said Col McElwain.
They were handed over to Governor Sarabi by Defence Minister Phil Goff at a special ceremony in the provincial capital.
Col McElwain said New Zealanders had an excellent understanding of the importance of protecting items of cultural significance.
"It is wonderful to be able to return these items to the people of Afghanistan, a country that has been robbed of many treasures in its turbulent past," he said.
New Zealand has 122 defence force personnel in the NZPRT in Bamyan. They were there to maintain security in Bamyan Province and to provide advice and assistance to the provincial governor, the Afghan national police and district sub-governors.
- NZPA