Kabul (BNA) Acting Minister of Information and Culture Mohammad Tahir Zuhair in a meeting held the other day praised officials of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (French: La Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan (DAFA) their support, acceleration and quality work on Kabul’s Bala Hissar’s renovation project.
In the meeting attended also by acting deputy minister of information and culture for art and culture and head of the ministry’s archaeology department, acting minister of information and culture said renovation of Kabul’s Bala Hissar would be followed by Aga Khan Foundation funded by the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), while the DAFA organization is working on archaeology work on the project in coordination with the MoIC’s archaeology department
He said that the country’s cultural heritages and historic monuments have suffered from continued war and violence in the country; therefore, they needed to be protected and renovated.
Acting minister of information and culture also recalled of Herat’s fifth minaret and other minarets and the country’s all other historic monuments and cultural heritages that were endangered and under possible destruction, saying that they all needed further protection and renovation. “We need to start work on consolidation and renovation of Bala Hissars of Balkh, Khost, Ghazni and other provinces,” Zuhair said, emphasizing the protection and renovation of Karwan Saraye Shash Pul, Jalalabad Hada, Buddha statues and historic mausoleums of the country. Afterwards, head of ALIPH by briefing related to activities of the organization said ALLIPH was founded in 2017 to support the endangered heritages and it was aimed to cooperate towards protection Afghanistan cultural heritages, adding that the organization was working on 12 projects worth $7 million and was determined to work on further projects in the country.
In the meeting, an official of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (French: La Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan (DAFA) by briefing related to activities of the operation said DAFA was cooperating with Afghanistan in the field of protection the cultural heritages and was currently working in Kabul’s Bala Hissar archaeology project. It is worth mentioning that the first phase of renovation work of Kabul’s Bala Hissar will take four years and at least an archaeology park is planned to be created in this locality.
