October 2008
Taliban storm Afghan culture ministry, kill 5
Taliban fighters stormed the Ministry of Culture in the heart of Kabul Thursday, killing five people in an attack the president said aimed at derailing the government's new effort to draw militants into a peace process and end a seven-year insurgency. more >
July 2008
Analysts Comment on Rumours About Removal of Afghan Culture Minister
Rumours are circulating that Information and Culture Minister Karim Khoram will be removed from cabinet. more >
April 2008
Restrictions on music discussed in parliament
A commission for cultural and religious affairs in Afghanistan's parliamentary lower house wants to impose new restrictions on music and dance performance in Afghanistan. more >
March 2008
Afghanistan Moves to Censor TV
Afghanistan's lower house of Parliament passed a resolution Monday seeking to bar television programs from showing dancing and other practices deemed un-Islamic. more >
Cultural Policy of Afghanistan
The latest edition of Power for Culture's policy series finds that Afghanistan's arts are slowly emerging from the ruins left behind by the Taliban regime. more >
September 2003
German culture institute reopens in Kabul after 12-year closure
The Goethe Institute, which showcases the German language and culture to the outside world, said that it will reopen its office in the Afghan capital Kabul for the first time since 1990. more >
May 2003
Theft of Afghan artifacts persists
For decades, war and gnawing poverty made Afghanistan fertile ground for thieves and smugglers. Looters have cleared the shelves in Afghanistan's museums and left deep hollows in the earth of its ancient sites, where Buddhist, Greek, Zoroastrian and early Islamic civilizations once flourished. more >
April 2003
Tackling a tall order: the Bamiyan Buddha
Security concerns in Afghanistan and around the region have delayed the restoration of the giant Buddha statues in the Bamiyan Valley. And, according to UNESCO, there is some uncertainty as to whether to piece together the ruins or build replicas of the originals. more >
February 2003
One year in Afghanistan
A year after Taliban, Afghan culture is starting to recover from the ruins left by the regime that will always be remembered as one of the most barbarous in the history of the world. Art, poetry, music, theater and dance are gradually re-emerging after many years of repression and persecution. more >
New literacy boost for Afghanistan
UNESCO and the Government of Afghanistan recently launched a major project to boost literacy throughout the troubled nation, which suffers one of the world’s lowest literacy rates. more >
November 2002
Afghanistan's archaeological treasures threatened
Afghanistan faces a race against time to save its archaeological treasures experts warn, as rampant theft and smuggling of valuable artefacts continues unabated despite the outbreak of peace. more >
October 2002
Muppet team on Afghan mission
Two members of the team behind the Muppets are embarking on a mission to save Afghan children from landmines by creating an elaborate stage-show to take there. more >
Media and culture centre opens in Kabul
A new centre for media freedom established in the Afghan capital, Kabul, was officially opened last week, and is now home to nine independent publications. more >
Pioneering Internet connection in Afghanistan
One of Afghanistan’s key training institutions for journalists, the AINA Media and Cultural Centre in Kabul, is now able to offer Internet connectivity to its clientele. more >
Afghan media receives major Italian support
Italy has provided UNESCO with $4.0m to help develop the media in Afghanistan. more >
September 2002
Radio brings information to Bamiyan
A small radio station operating from the historical city of Bamiyan in northern Afghanistan is bringing music, news and information to the people of this remote area. UNESCO will help Bamiyan women to prepare programmes for transmission. more >
UNESCO welcomes free speech declaration for Afghanistan
International science and cultural agency UNESCO has warmly welcomed a formal recommendation announced earlier this month, to enshrine the principles of free speech and free media in the new Afghan constitution. more >
The hunt for Bamiyan's third Buddha
There was an international outcry when the Taliban blew up two ancient statues of Buddha last year, but few then imagined that there might be a third statue in the same valley. more >
Afghan films roll again on shoestring budget
Afghanistan's independent film companies are back in business on shoestring budgets and with casts as small as eight. more >
August 2002
The looting of Turquoise Mountain
Looting of Afghanistan's cultural treasures has not stopped with the overthrow of the Taliban - it seems to have escalated. more >
Bamiyan Buddha niches at risk
The niches which once housed the Buddhas of Bamiyan will be 'gone within a decade' unless urgent conservation work is undertaken, according to Paul Bucherer, director of the Afghanistan museum in exile in Switzerland. more >
July 2002
Bollywood king of Kandahar again
The influence of Bollywood films so feared by the Taliban is indeed spreading through Afghan society. more >
May 2002
Rescue hope for Afghan treasures
International conservation experts are meeting in Kabul for talks on how to save Afghanistan's cultural heritage. A key item is the feasibility of restoring ruined treasures such as the Bamiyan Buddhas. more >
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >