KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has approved a new law aimed at preserving what the group calls its “jihadi heritage,” including documenting its two-decade insurgency and displaying related artifacts in museums.
The “Law on the Preservation of Jihadi Heritage,” published on Monday by the Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture, consists of 14 articles and establishes the Directorate for the Preservation of Jihadi Heritage as the body responsible for implementing its provisions.
According to the law, the directorate will collect, organize and archive documents, records and materials related to the Taliban’s insurgency against the former Western-backed Afghan government and international forces from 2001 to 2021.
The legislation also requires the compilation of an official history of the Taliban movement, including its origins, development, first period of rule in the 1990s, and a detailed account of the two-decade war against U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.
Under Article 9, military equipment left behind by foreign forces, including tanks, helicopters, artillery pieces, and vehicles, is to be preserved and displayed in museums. Where original items are unavailable, replicas should be produced for exhibition purposes.
The same article calls for the documentation of equipment used during the insurgency, including light and heavy weapons, mines, improvised barrel bombs, rockets, traps, remote-control devices, and other items described as jihadi artifacts.
The law also requires the preservation of intangible heritage, including stories, memories, poems, songs, and oral accounts associated with the Taliban’s war effort.
Article 12 stipulates that all materials must be published in written or audio form and prohibits the publication of images of living beings, in line with the Taliban’s policy restricting the broadcast of such images, which the group considers contrary to its interpretation of Islamic law.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have organized exhibitions of what they describe as jihadi artifacts in Kabul, Kandahar, Kapisa, and several other provinces. Exhibits have included suicide vests, improvised barrel bombs known locally as “yellow barrels,” magnetic mines, and other equipment used during the conflict.
Some exhibitions have also featured unexploded ordnance and military hardware left behind following the withdrawal of international forces and the collapse of the former Afghan government in 2021.
The Taliban leadership has repeatedly emphasized the importance of preserving what it calls “jihadi heritage” for future generations. Critics, however, say the initiative promotes a narrative centered on the group’s own interpretation of Afghanistan’s recent history and armed conflict.
