Museums Department, Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs

The Museums Department evaluates plans for museums, draws up the national museums budget, promotes all Afghan museums and directs funding agencies to the appropriate projects. There were previously six museums in Afghanistan – the National Museum in Kabul and the provincial museums at Balkh (Mazar e Sharif), Kandahar, Nangarhar (Jalalabad), Herat and Ghazni. At the time of going to press all remain closed. The longterm objective of the Museums Department is to open museums in every province in order to showcase their archeological finds. The Ministry hopes this will instill a feeling of pride in the Afghan heritage and help to stop the looting.