Who's stealing Afghan cultural treasures?

I missed this when it was posted in March:

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Worth a look. Let us remember the efforts of US antiquity dealers (supported shamefully by certain US politicians) to block legislation (HR 915) to curb imports of illegally obtained material from Afghanistan into the US. The US legislation was in fact never enacted and archaeological material probably from the region is openly on sale by many US dealers and auction houses. Like for example all those coins from "Bactria" on ACCG President Bill Puetz's V-coins website. Let us remember the names of the politicians who blocked the legislation that was intended to stop US antiquity dealers profiting from the US invasion of Afghanistan: the text “ACCG has friends in Congress” names them as Mark Green, Tom Petri, Paul Ryan and adds "The ACCG is proud to count them as "Friends".

Here is the text:

13 March, 2010, 06:53
Afghanistans unique location has made it home to the world's most complex civilizations that left a rich cultural heritage. But the war-torn country has now fallen victim to looters, stealing the nations artifacts. Ever since Afghanistan was invaded by Alexander the Great, nearly 2,500 years ago, the country has seen one foreign army after another. In recent times the British, the Soviets and now the Americans. And whatever reasons they give the impact of war continues to leave a cultural scar that runs deep through Afghan civilization.
In many countries, the national museum is a source of pride where ancient treasures that explain that countrys history are on display. The Kabul museum, instead of boasting a collection that dates back hundreds of years, has bullet holes and destroyed artifacts. In the civil war, the museum was a military base repeatedly struck by rocket fire and largely destroyed. Later, the Taliban ransacked whatever items had not been moved for safe-keeping.
And now theres a new enemy smugglers working in areas where foreign forces are currently in control. Mir Ahmad Joyenda of the Afghan parliamentary international relations commission told RT: Some military forces of other countries are doing some digging at night, he added but unfortunately in the last eight years we didnt put on trial a single smuggler for stealing the cultural heritage of Afghanistan. Nobody has been arrested, nobody has been put in jail and nobody has investigated this issue.
The Afghan government simply doesnt have the resources. Seven years ago a special police unit was set up to stop the illegal excavations. But 500 officers cant do much especially when much of the digging is reportedly at night and in areas under NATO control.

Recently, around 7,000 artifacts that had been smuggled out of the country were returned to the museum. Some pieces were found in England. It was easy for the museums director to recognize them as being from Afghanistan.
"Most of these 2,000 pieces were taken by these looters who were Afghan looters they transferred them from Afghanistan to neighboring country, then to Dubai, and from Dubai to Heathrow Airport. You cant imagine one looter would be able to collect these kinds of artifacts, to steal them, to transfer them by airplane to Heathrow airport in the UK. The simple Afghan people cannot do these activities", says Omara Khan Masoudi, director of the Kabul National Museum.

But NATO forces deny the charges. Brigadier General Frederick Ben Hodges, director of operations, ISAF regional command south said "That is completely against the values we hold as an army, stealing is just not acceptable behavior. I'm not aware of it and I certainly wouldnt tolerate it".

As a former crossroads of major trade routes, Afghanistans been home to some of Asias most complex and unique civilizations. Today, there are 3,000 archaeological sites. And while that rich seam of history waits to be unearthed, those supposed to protect it will need to dig deeper to beat the looters.

So if the brigadier general is unaware of the issue, who actually is behind the looting? Who is out there at night digging, and more importantly who is behind the organization of the transport of this material out of the country and into the stockrooms of western dealers? If the latter are not doing a deal with those associated with the military, with what groups are they doing business with? Maybe Mark Green, Tom Petri and Paul Ryan would like to tell us from whom their new "Friends" get this material from?