UNESCO and the destruction of Afghan cultural heritage: How the Taliban’s return to power threatens the legitimacy of western-led international organizations
Earlier this year when the Taliban regained power for the first time in Afghanistan since the US-led military invasion of 2001, all attention was immediately centered on the fall of Kabul and Afghan government, as well as the devastating effects and tragedy that the Taliban’s reprise of power would have on the Afghan people. The outside world watched in horror the scenes at Kabul airport and the heartbreaking interviews with citizens fearing for their lives and the future of Afghanistan. Adding to this discourse at the time was the anger and frustration expressed towards the American government and other western governments at their inaction and inability to prevent the return of the Taliban. The twenty year long US military presence disappeared as did their supposed ‘success’ at quelling the Taliban’s dangerous presence.
Now, as the world is starting to sadly adjust to the reality of the Taliban regime, greater analysis can be done to recognize the true levels of destruction that Afghanistan is experiencing, particularly the loss of their rich cultural heritage. Adding to the failure of the US military presence in Afghanistan is the failure of international institutions, such as UNESCO, to protect the country’s cultural heritage.
The history of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage
Afghanistan is home to a diverse and rich cultural heritage, thanks in large part to its history which includes a strong religious legacy of a variety of religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Christian and Jewish sects. Unlike other parts of the world, humans have inhabited Afghanistan for at least 50,000 years, living primarily in farming communities. Early records of human interaction in Afghanistan in the ancient world reveal the presence of the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great, and a wide variety of kingdoms that would be defined by both Buddhism and Islam. Modern day Afghanistan represents a land that is home to thousands of years of human interaction, leaving it with an impressive cultural heritage. Historical monuments in Afghanistan include the Bamiyan Valley that once held the great Buddha statues and the Minaret of Jam, the famous tower built by the Ghurid sultan. Yet now, Afghanistan risks losing its precious cultural heritage due to the Taliban, and their desire to rewrite the narrative of Afghanistan's history.
Afghanistan has already lost much of its most important and oldest forms of cultural heritage. When the Taliban first took power in 1996 they horrified the outside world by destroying the Buddhist Bamiyan statues of the 6th century. The statues were regarded as examples of the oldest forms of religious monuments worldwide and were part of UNESCO’s many world heritage sites. The Taliban's decision to destroy these sacred, 600 foot tall monuments revealed their intense desire to rid Afghanistan of its Buddhist influence and anything that went against the terrorist organization’s strict rules and image. The Taliban did not only destroy ancient sites, they also attacked more recent forms of cultural heritage as well as Afghanistan’s contemporary art and culture. Museums, libraries, and music were all forms of culture that fell victim to the Taliban. Author and academic, Ahmad Rashid Salim describes the danger of cultural heritage destruction: “When you kill history, when you kill language, when you kill leaders, when you kill intellectuals, when you kill the religious and spiritual leaders of a society, you can do whatever you want with the people who no longer have a past.”
Now, the Taliban’s return to power threatens the few remaining ancient cultural heritage sites as well as the renaissance of culture that the Afghan people have worked so hard to protect and promote in recent decades. Indeed, it appears as though our worst fears are being realized. Following the Taliban’s initial return to power back in August of this year little was known of their intentions regarding the country’s cultural heritage. A Taliban spokesperson was quoted in February of 2021 on the subject of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage: “As Afghanistan is a country replete with ancient artifacts and antiquity, and that such relics form a part of our country’s history, identity and rich culture, therefore all have an obligation to robustly protect, monitor and preserve these artifacts...All Mujahideen must prevent excavation of antiquities and preserve all historic sites like old fortresses, minarets, towers and other similar sites...to safeguard them from damage, destruction and decay.” Officials within the Taliban promised to protect the country’s cultural heritage, including Kabul’s National Museum of Afghanistan; yet suspicions and distrust lingered given the events of previous decades. Tragically, it appears as though our worst fears are being realized: a recent video from early November shows the Taliban conducting a target practice at the limited remains of the Bamiyan Buddhas, despite their supposed promise to protect the cultural heritage site. This blatant disrespect for the cultural heritage site and disregard of their promise reveals the level of destruction that the Taliban is capable of. Afghanistan risks losing all of its influential cultural heritage, a tragedy that will be deeply devastating not just for the country, but for the world.
UNESCO and the protection of world heritage sites
Afghanistan is not the first country worldwide that risks losing its history and heritage due to a change in government and desire to redefine a national identity. The destruction of cultural heritage is a tragic part of every culture's history. However, the 20th century saw the first large-scale attempt to recognize the importance of cultural heritage worldwide and implement efforts to protect cultural heritage in all of its forms.
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, was established with the goal of protecting and promoting peace and cooperation, specifically through cultural work. The UNESCO World Heritage Sites are one of the defining roles of the international organization. Founded thanks to the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the World Heritage List seeks to protect cultural heritage all across the world in the forms of monuments, buildings, geographical landscapes, and other forms of cultural sites. The UNESCO World Heritage List also labels sites that are in danger and must be protected. Heritage sites in danger can be labeled for a variety of reasons including environmental threats, political threats, or economic threats. Afghanistan is home to several cultural heritage sites on the World Heritage List, of which some, such as the Bamiyan Buddhas, have tragically been destroyed. The remaining cultural heritage sites in Afghanistan are high on the list of those in danger.
Despite the global impact of UNESCO and worldwide recognition of the importance of protecting cultural heritage sites, UNESCO has been helpless in the face of Taliban destruction. While the international organization could evidently not prevent the return of the Taliban in power, their blatant failure to succeed in any form of protection towards Afghanistan’s cultural heritage sites threatens the legitimacy and future of the organization. In the face of the Taliban’s takeover, UNESCO was only able to call for the preservation of the historical sites, despite their implementation of a safeguard protection program with the Afghan Interior Ministry in 2004. Yet, even this protection program appears worthless now. How can the world guarantee the protection of its cultural heritage when the one organization tasked with promoting and protecting cultural heritage cannot live up to its own goals? The Taliban’s return to power and their decision to blatantly target Afghanistan’s cultural heritage sites reveals a far larger issue than the blatant destruction seen on the surface: The inability of international organizations to live up to their roles.
The recent failure of international organizations
UNESCO is not the first international institution that has been unable to live up to its original promise and mission statement, many other prominent international organizations have been unable to meet their promises to the world for a variety of factors. Examples of failure within other international organizations include the European Union’s recent failure to implement western-European influence in Bosnia following the UN’s security council’s vote to end the EU’s peacekeeping mission there. Other more infamous failures include the UN’s tragic inaction throughout the Rwandan genocide, in which UN blue helemt troops evacuated foreigners, but failed the protect the horrifying mass murder of the Tutsi people. Despite UN recognition of their own blatant failure, the organization’s peacekeeping missions in recent decades reveal a clear and obvious struggle of the organization to live up to its goals, following its creation after World War II.
The liberal international order in conflict
The destruction in Afghanistan and UNESCO inability to protect the country’s cultural heritage sites reveal another larger issue: the failure of the liberal international order. Following the devastating destruction caused by the Second World War, dozens of international institutions and organizations were established with the hope of promoting global cooperation and thus preventing war and mass conflict. Aimed with the goal of spreading liberal, western democracy throughout the world, the victors of World War II believed that through western-led international organization and western influence world wide, nation states would become democracies over time. Therefore making the world a safer place through nation states’ attempts to evolve into the traits encouraged by the western powers.
The liberal international order is defined by its norms of multilateralism and its promotion of international institutions. The liberal international order has been a central theory that has defined world politics following the second of World War II. The theory was seen as the future of democracy and peace; it promised a more connected world of western-led power and economic, political, and cultural cooperation. However, recent decades have seen the failing of the liberal international order, as the theory could not account for the recent developments of bipolarity between China and the United States, or its failure in its countries of origin, caused by populist movements seen in the United Kingdom and United States. The rise of non-state actors and the rejection of Western values and traditional concepts of nation state sovereignty have also been central to the liberal international order’s decline. The threat of the Taliban stems not just from their capacity to cause mass violence, but also their rejection of the pillars of liberalism.
International institutions were once established to be the defining pillars of the liberal international order. The establishment of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, or the World Health Organization all reveal how following their creation, western powers intended for the organizations to engage in multilateral cooperation worldwide, while being largely dominated and funded by the western powers themselves. However, the recent failures of many international institutions reflect the larger failure of liberalism as the defining theory of world order.
UNESCO’s inability to act in Afghanistan does not just threaten their own stability and legitimacy as an organization designed in part to protect world heritage, but reveals the broader trend of failure within international institutions and the change in world order. The stability and protection once promised by these western led international institutions can no longer be guaranteed; the Taliban’s destruction of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage simply proves it.
