Dear Colleagues: 

Please ignore cross postings. 

Below are snips from an article posted from Kabul today.  It is a very sad 
reminder of how destroyed records and other cultural heritage materials 
undermine the fabric of a country and the whole idea of the rule of law. It 
also stands as a stark reminder of the risks to future generations of not 
having and preserving records of tyrannical regimes. We know from history of 
other tyrannies that, where there is no record, the reality of tyranny may 
later be diluted or denied altogether. We talk a great deal about 
accountability of individuals and organizations. Here we address as we do 
only rarely -- not rarely enough in recent history -- the accountability of a 
national regime.

Could (would) ICA speaking to the international community and its national 
members, speaking to their own national communities, take a leadership role 
in drawing public attention to lessons concerning the role of records in this 
situation and in establishing a surrogate record of the past five years of 
the Taliban regime in Afghanistan? Could some kind of record be reconstituted 
through collaboration among the ICA, UNESCO, national professional 
associations, and possibly the World Bank for use by the new government of 
Afghanistan? This might be done utilizing originals or copies of whatever 
documentation Taliban officials may have left behind as they fled Kabul, oral 
histories from witnesses and the records of the one senior Taliban figure 
remaining in Kabul, Mohammed Khaksar, the former deputy interior minister and 
outspoken critic of the Taliban's more extreme practices. Mr. Khaksar might 
also be able to assist in locating what few records may have been kept 
elsewhere by the disenfranchised government. International press coverage and 
Internet Archives might also provide resource materials. 

Do we have any experience with similar problems in Eastern Europe?
It seems to me that this kind of situation runs to the heart of what archives 
and records management is all about.

Regards,

Rick Barry
www.rbarry.com
=============================================
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11350-2001Dec7.html
         
Kabul Good Riddance, Taliban Told Mullah's Fiery Sermon Accuses Militia of 
Ignoring Suffering 

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 8, 2001; Page A16 

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 7 -- As the Taliban militia surrendered its last 
stronghold in Afghanistan today, few people here in the capital mourned the 
demise of the radical Islamic movement whose five-year rule brought them 
little but poverty, isolation and fear….

It is difficult to quantify the human impact of the Taliban era on 
Afghanistan. In a country where no reliable statistics are available, no real 
government has ruled for five years, and huge numbers of people have been 
displaced by civil war and drought, surveys by international relief agencies 
only suggest the magnitude of human hardship and upheaval that accompanied 
Taliban rule….

In fact, less than three weeks after its forces peacefully abandoned the 
capital and fled south, there are astonishingly few traces here to indicate 
that the Taliban ever existed. 

Because they deemed images of the human form to be un-Islamic, Taliban 
leaders built no monuments to their rule and allowed no photographs of their 
leaders. Instead, they took down office portraits of past Afghan heroes and 
historic figures, smashed statues outside the old presidential palace and 
destroyed priceless figurines in the national museum. 

Because of their limited resources, lack of education and opposition to 
modern technology, Taliban officials kept no systematic records of their 
activities, issued orders on walkie-talkies or scraps of paper, and governed 
from nearly empty ministries that never received a coat of paint. 

New officials taking up their posts have few files to empty or store, only 
the moldy remains of old business that was neglected for five years. 
Professionals who once worked in ministries were fired and replaced by 
clerics who knew little about finance, planning or public works.

"We worked with international standards and modern methods, but nobody in 
Afghanistan knows anything about them any more," lamented Ahmad, the former 
government health and sanitation manager. "So much has been lost; I don't 
know how it will ever be recovered."…. 

© 2001 The Washington Post Company