National Gallery of Art Exhibit of Afghan Treasures

I am really looking forward to the National Gallery of Art's exhibition of treasures from the National Museum, Kabul. See http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/afghanistaninfo.shtm. What I am not looking forward to is activists from the archaeological community using a selective version of the events behind the recovery of these treasures to push their own anti-collecting agenda. Such a selective version of the cultural property issues facing Afghanistan was behind a bill introduced in Congress several years ago that would have authorized "emergency import restrictions" similar to those enacted under the "Emergency Restrictions on Iraqi Cultural Antiquities Act of 2004." Thankfully, that bill (H.R. 915) died in Committee after the House Ways and Means Committee accepted public comment about the legislation. For more, see the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Trade web site at: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=comment&hearing=440
The bill's defeat does not mean that Afghanistan cannot seek "emergency import restrictions" itself. Rather, it means that if it does so, there will be no bypass of CPAC review and the opportunity for public comment. This, of course, was one of the major complaints about the "Emergency Restrictions on Iraqi Cultural Antiquities Act of 2004."