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
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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