After scouring out their preferred pieces of history for months and putting them together to present a distorted reality, the Taliban government in Afghanistan has finally launched a dedicated ‘jihadi museum’ in Kabul, carefully curating scrolls that best fit their narrative.
Acting Minister of Information and Culture Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa inaugurated the Jihadi Museum, Archives, and Library earlier this month, which is aimed at glorifying the struggles and exploits of “heroes” who fought foreign invaders. He called it the Islamic Emirate’s “responsibility” to collect, preserve, and pass on their stories to future generations.
But there is a problem. The Taliban have never been interested in preserving history for the sake of knowledge. They are just obsessed with controlling historical narratives, and now they are making it official. Although Khairkhwa urged the newly established General Directorate for Preservation of Jihadi Values to maintain impartiality while documenting the ‘sacrifices’, the museum seems more of a glorification project rather than a neutral documentation effort.
Shaping a legacy where all mujahidin are national heroes is nothing but a propaganda attempt to write state-controlled history. For the world, those who fought the Soviets, who tore Afghanistan apart in civil war, and those who later became the Taliban are all mujahidin.
One thing is for sure; atrocities of foreign invaders will be highlighted, but those committed by the mujahidin themselves will be swept under the rug. The massacres, war crimes, and destruction will not make it to the annals.
Addressing the gathering at the launch, Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Arts Mawlavi Atiqullah Azizi discussed the historical context of the mujahidin’s struggle. He noted that the mujahidin achieved victory under a “unified cause” but internal conflicts later caused “divisions among their ranks”.
In the same breath, he reiterated that the Islamic Emirate was committed to preventing such divisions in the future. Now that is code for ideological control. Instead of inspiring new factions or rival groups, the current rulers apparently want to own the legacy of mujahidin, ensuring that no other group claims the banner of jihad without their permission.
An actual museum preserves history no matter how glorious or ugly it is. That does not seem to be happening here. This is just a botched attempt to institutionalize the Taliban’s version of history that teaches future generations that the mujahidin were always the rightful rulers of Afghanistan
It is clear that the museum-cum-library has nothing to do with actual history. Otherwise, the government would have engaged independent historians and international researchers. Rather, it is about absolute power and influence over the next generation’s mindset. They want young Afghans to see them as part of an unbroken chain of resistance fighters and not as a group that hijacked a country through repression.
An actual museum preserves history no matter how glorious or ugly it is. That does not seem to be happening here. This is just a botched attempt to institutionalize the Taliban’s version of history that teaches future generations that the mujahidin were always the rightful rulers of Afghanistan. The world has seen this movie before, in which history is rewritten, myths created, and all alternative narratives razed. It knows who the Taliban are, where they came from, and who supported them. The problem is that the world’s memory does not matter inside Afghanistan, and given enough time, people will forget the details.
Of course, this museum is not for the outside world. It is for the unripe minds within the country, who will now grow up hearing the stories of foreign invasions and the Taliban’s resistance. It is not about facts; it is about framing crimes as sacrifices and oppression as duty. Their atrocities will be rebranded. The oppression of women will be justified as imposition of Islamic values; the destruction of historical sites will be called a fight against idol worship; and the executions will be called justice under Sharia law.
And the sad part is that this propaganda might work. Afghanistan is a country where education is minimal – banned for girls and women – and the flow of information is strictly controlled. If you dare to question authority, you are probably already dead. Under such conditions, the locals have little choice but to believe what they hear.
Moreover, international human rights groups have already proven their uselessness when it comes to Afghanistan. They just document the oppression, talk about it for a while at various forums, send missives, plan actions, and then disappear without any action. There is also no hope for those raising their voices from within Afghanistan. They have no power, no authority. And the bitter truth is that resistance without power means nothing. This is what the world has to offer the oppressed segments in Afghanistan – absolutely nothing.
