Taliban

Taliban pledges to protect Buddhist city by mining underground

Afghan minister says that copper extraction by a Chinese company at Mes Aynak, an important archaeological site, will avoid damage to relics

Heritageanalysis

Three years on: how the Taliban has impacted Afghanistan's culture

The government is increasing support for desperately needed restoration projects, but repressive new laws erase women and girls from public life

World is ‘blindly failing’ persecuted Afghan artists, human rights organisation says

As a new report is released, the US-based Artistic Freedom Initiative demands refugee status for artists and cultural workers under threat from Taliban rule

What impact has two years of Taliban rule had on the arts in Afghanistan?

Future of arts and women’s rights remain uncertain despite government backing of cultural heritage projects

Afghanistananalysis

How Afghanistan’s art degrees are disappearing

The Taliban’s restrictions on women’s freedom, the absence of expertise and a collapsed economy are limiting opportunities in higher education

Isolation is thwarting archaeological discoveries of Afghanistan’s rich heritage

Conservation works on an ancient burial site at Shewaki near Kabul had to be halted due to lack of funding and resources

Italy throws Afghanistan a lifeline for restoration in the Bamiyan area

A new Unesco initiative will provide much-needed local employment in the vulnerable heritage site

'We need to act fast': experts race to preserve Afghanistan's ancient Buddhist heritage site Mes Aynak from copper mining

Taliban government has backed a new conservation project led by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Aliph

Can Bamiyan and other heritage sites survive the Taliban?

The Taliban say they are dedicated to preserving Afghanistan’s cultural sites, but struggle to gain much needed international support

'Lost in limbo': Taliban’s application for Unesco protection of historic Kabul garden still unanswered after a year

United Nations culture organisation has not acknowledged the January 2022 request to add Afghanistan's Bagh-e Babur to the World Heritage List

Should the world resume co-operating with the Taliban on protecting Afghanistan's heritage?

Conservation projects that have been paused due to sanctions on the new government may restart after Unesco intervention

Taliban government approves conservation work on historic synagogue in Afghanistan

Go ahead given to a restoration project to preserve two historic sites associated with the Jewish community that once resided in Herat

Letter from Afghanistan, after fleeing to Iran: it is not safe to be a woman or an artist

Sadaf Danish, an artist from Afghanistan, had to escape the Taliban but fears for the girls left behind

New York human rights organisation surpasses target for relocating Afghan artists fleeing Taliban

The Artistic Freedom Initiative is resettling 23 arts professionals and 38 family members in the US in the wake of the insurgency

First the Taliban, now local planners—Afghanistan's World Heritage site Bamiyan Valley endangered further

Unesco warns of risks of construction works in the archaeological zone where the Bamiyan Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001

Do the Taliban regret blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas? New government takes steps to protect heritage

Leaders of the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan says it favours the conservation of the tangible heritage—including pre-Islamic monuments—but economic sanctions are getting in the way

One year after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, artists stage remembrance festival of kite flying

International event—featuring storytelling, music, poetry and dance—aims to bring awareness to the continuing plight of Afghans

New concerns for the Bamiyan Valley's future in Taliban hands surface on anniversary of monumental Buddhas' destruction

Evidence of encroaching development, looting and a new coal depot near the site poses major threats to its status—and its future

US bans import of art and antiquities from Afghanistan

Experts in the trade question whether items seized by US customs under the new four-year policy will be returned to the Taliban

Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley will collapse in the next ten years if looting and neglect continue, former Unesco representative warns

An increase in illegal development and excavations is damaging the structural integrity of the World Heritage Site that has stood for more than 1,000 years

'Pessimism is a luxury. For people living in Afghanistan, that is never an option': an Afghan art organisation on life under the Taliban

In our series "Dispatches from Afghanistan", we speak to artists and cultural workers about their experiences since the rise of the Taliban

An Afghan cultural worker’s life under the Taliban: 'There is nothing left for us here and we can’t go anywhere else'

In a new series "Dispatches from Afghanistan", we speak to artists about their experiences since the rise of the Taliban. Here, Mansoor laments the world’s silence over Afghanistan's fate

Amid frenzied evacuation from Kabul, US embassy’s art is quietly shipped home

While many people with links to US military were left behind, State Department had arranged for art collection to leave Afghanistan

An Afghan artist's life under the Taliban: burning art, deleting social media accounts and living in hiding

In a new series "Dispatches from Afghanistan", we speak to artists about their experiences since the rise of the Taliban. Here, contemporary artist and curator Mina recounts the horrors of her failed escape attempt

Podcastspodcast

Afghanistan: the threat of the Taliban to artists and heritage

Plus, artist Bill Fontana records Notre Dame's bells

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New York human rights organisation ‘racing against the clock’ to get Afghan artists to safety

As the deadline for evacuation looms, the Artistic Freedom Initiative wants the US government to grant refugee status to individuals

Protocols are already available to help save Afghanistan’s cultural heritage

In 2015, the Association of Art Museum Directors established a structure under which museums can act to protect cultural property in immanent peril

Amid Taliban insurgency, culture sector fears looting as Kabul descends into chaos

British Council in Afghanistan among international heritage organisations that have suspended operations during the conflict