Thesis Book - Seeds of Hope

2.5 Present Issue Endangers Culture Once Again
Despite the immense progress made in the culture,
fund and safeguard the invaluable cultural heritage of
education, infrastructure, and society in the country in the
past 20 years, the future of the country remains undetermined
due to the swift takeover by the Taliban in August 2021. The
lack of government and economic control in the past year has
Afghanistan. It brings one back to the past of how archivists
and academics were put in hiding after the first Taliban rule
in 1994 since thousands of pieces of pottery, paintings,
and coins were destroyed, damaged, or stolen (Finnegan).
led the country into a downward spiral and a humanitarian
crisis. Concerns for the women and girls’ right to freedom,
cultural identity and heritage have been ongoing for the future
of the country. This is due to people remembering the brutal
reign of the Taliban in 1994 which had allowed the group to
impose very restrictive forms of Sharia law in Afghanistan.
After the Taliban’s threat to power in August 2021, many
fear the cultural heritage of Afghanistan is being wiped out
once again. Right after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, the
National Archives administrative building was broken in. The
institution’s precious collections such as the translated
ancient manuscripts from Persian scholars are currently in
danger of being wiped out. It is still unknown the efforts
the international communities like UNESCO are willing to
Poetry, film, music, art, artifacts, antiquities,
statues, museums, and many more are now at huge risk of
being destroyed, torn, or burned. The Taliban are a
group that is deeply rooted in violence that has killed
the history of Afghanistan before and has no hesitation
to do it again. And when you kill its history, you kill
the language, the leaders, the knowledge, the religion, and
the spiritual leaders of the society as a way to start a
country with no past (Finnegan). “After twenty years of
immense gains for our country and especially our younger
generations, all could be lost again in this abandonment,”
said Sahraa Karimi, who is an Afghan filmmaker and the first
woman to lead the Afghan Film Organization (Finnegan).
51