Ryukoku University, a Buddhist school in Kyoto, and Afghanistan's National Institute of Archaeology have signed an accord to survey and excavate newly found Buddhist relics lying west of the famed Bamiyan ruins that were destroyed by the Taliban.
The Chehel Burj fortress, 126 km west of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, was photographed by Atsushi Naka in June 2003.
The ruins are in Keligan, 120 km west of Bamiyan, and in Chehel Burj, 6 km west of Keligan.
Photographer Atsushi Naka, a Ryukoku University graduate, came upon them in June 2003 based on a tip from locals.
Bamiyan had till then been regarded as the westernmost point in Afghanistan where Buddhism spread.
The two large Buddhist statues carved into the mountainside in Bamiyan, one 55 meters tall and the other 38 meters, were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.
The excavation is expected to shed new light on the transmission of Buddhism, including a possible link with Buddhist relics in Turkmenistan.