The war in Afghanistan started in the middle of the excavation of six Kushan graves in Tillya Tepe. Through the war, the world wondered about the Bactiran golden hoard' excavated at Tillya Tepe thought to be as valuable as the treasure of Tutankhamen. We still don't know.
In the National Geographic of March 1990, Viktor Ivanovich Sarianidi wrote that he had discovered an an cient city in Tillya Tepe (mound of gold) in 1978. He dated it to 2500 BC, making it contemporary with Mohenjodaro. He saw traces of subsequent settlements and noted its Hellenisation in 400 BC. He was excavating layers related to 100 AD when he discovered six royal graves. These were of Kushan princes and princesses decked out in Greek-style ornamented regalia. His team collected over 20,000 gold objects, catalogued them, and transported them to Kabul where the famous Kabul Museum became their repository.
Tillya Tepe is in the Jozjan province (old name Balkh), north of the Hindu Kush and south of Amu Darya forming the frontier with the former Soviet Union. This is the region known to ancient history as Bactria, the land of the Greek people whom the Persians employed as their soldiers.
As the Soviet archaeological team dug through the graveyard, modern-day warriors appeared and started plundering the site. This was Uzbek territory, the bailiwick of warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam and his dreaded militia. Sarianidi writes that the two remaining graves were opened by the warriors and their contents sold in the international market "before we had a chance to make plaster copies of the pieces, before they could be studied or displayed, war and confusion closed on Afghanistan." Continues Sariandi, "Today the priceless golden hoard of Tillya Tepe is in Kabul, but its condition is unknown, and scholars have no access. My efforts to have the trove fully safeguarded have so far met with disappointment." As the war progressed, Sarianidi and his mission became the subject of a persistent rumour that the Russians had carted the treasure off to Moscow.