Celebrate Afghan Culture

About

Afghanistan has a special place in our organization’s history. That moment when we watched in horror as the spectacular and iconic Bamiyan Buddhas were blown up by the Taliban, was the moment when we decided to start a group specially focused on heritage in wartime.

We called ourselves the “Bamiyan Project” but later, as we extended our work to other countries, we changed our name to ARCH International. But of course we still cared about Afghanistan. We worked hard to protect the archeological site of Mes Aynak, continued to advocate for research aimed at a potential future rebuilding of the Bamiyan statues, and highlighted Afghan culture through initiatives around Maulana Rumi. In 2018, at the suggestion of Afghanistan’s president Ashraf Ghani, we designed a series of StoryMaps featuring different themes of the country’s long and deep history.

ARCH members have published widely to alert and educate the public around the issue of endangered Afghan culture, most recently in July 2019 when ARCH argued that cultural heritage must play a role as part of the ongoing peace negotiation process.

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Location

Afghanistan.

Problem

Major security constraints have impeded the work of international heritage conservation in Afghanistan. At the same time, that heritage will one day play a critical role in the identity and pride – and in the economy! – of a recovering country.

Solution

Our members with links to the Afghan Diaspora community have been a great resource. Also, since Afghanistan was not going to be on most people’s imminent travel lists even without the war and even before Covid, we focused on our virtual StoryMaps. Please click on the below images to learn more.

If you want to support our work please donate or contact us if you would like to volunteer or intern with us.

News: We deeply wish that a peace agreement will finally bring an end to Afghanistan’s decades of misery and violence. But we worry what will happen to Afghan women, to the education system, to human rights – and to Afghanistan’s historic sites. We haven’t forgotten Bamiyan…Our vision is that both sides in the peace negotiations commit to the role of responsible custodian of their nation’s heritage. In October of this year, we sent a letter asking both sides to do exactly that: Promise to Protect Culture. We handed the letter (in English, Dari, Pashto) to both Afghan delegations in Doha. We also created an online petition with the same message. Please give it impact by helping us get as many signatures as possible – including yours!

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Celebrate Afghan Culture

MES AYNAK

Can the Taliban go from destroying heritage to protecting it?

RUMI GARDENS

Please Donate

BAMIYAN BUDDHAS

STORYMAPS