KABUL, AFGHANISTAN.- Shairazuddin Saifi, the director of Kabul National Museum's restoration department, works on a damaged Buddhist statue, 11 January 2005 at the museum in Kabul. Saifi and his colleagues are charged with piecing together the parts of an ancient cultural tradition shattered by war and now threatened by looters and foreign art dealers. Before the mujahedin took over in 1992, the museum held over 100,000 relics from different periods, dating from the pre-historic era to the twentieth century. "Seventy percent of the things in the museum were looted during the mujahedin fighting, which was the most destructive period, and between 2,500 and 3,000 pieces were destroyed by the Taliban," said Omara Massoudi, the director of the museum.