EVERY society goes through a phase in which a state of disorder causes anarchy. But in the process it gets acquainted with values which are rooted in a political culture of broadmindedness, knowledge and established values. Political awareness ensures cultural progress of a nation by developing a value system in which archaic cultural values that do not conform to the present nor meet demands of the age are resisted vehemently.

When we talk of an old culture, it comes to mind that its relics can be found in the peripheral plains of a country. Cities which normally make strides towards civilisation have few of them which is unfortunate because these relics keep us tied to our history, identity and the nation. Historical relics and artefacts illustrate a history of the struggle by a nation to make life easy and fruitful. But it does not mean that we should be prisoners of our past.

Daily Wahdat, Peshawar

In the case of Afghanistan, the young educated lot looks at with disapproval at all those things that are in conflict with the values and culture of a modern and civilised Afghan nation. Art, skills, music, calligraphy, sculpture and so many other such things are part of a culture.... During the decades-long war Afghanistan has witnessed the ransacking of its centres of culture and its relics. Its museums and historical sites have been pillaged mercilessly — even now in some provinces and regions the heist of artefacts is rampant.

The government of Hamid Karzai, which enjoys worldwide recognition, should put in place a plan to introduce Afghanistan to the outer world as a modern developing country which cares about its history, culture and values. The young, school-going generation should be educated on the cultural and historical richness of the war-torn country, so that they can feel proud of their past.

The information and cultural ministry of Afghanistan, and similar ministries in provinces, owe a duty to their nation to rehabilitate the debilitated culture of Afghanistan and reactivate all cultural centres on a war footing. All poets, writers, intellectuals and politicians should play a positive role in this endeavour. — (June 18)

Selected and translated by Faizullah Jan