On the website of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, you will find the Afghanistan exhibition which came to the US in 2008.  In that exhibition there were many interesting facts and photos of artifacts stemming from the location of Afghanistan on the ancient crossroads of the Silk Road trade routes, which stretched from Asia to the Mediterranean. Many of the objects were long thought to have been stolen or destroyed during some 25 years of conflict until they were dramatically recovered from a vault under the Presidential Palace in 2004. Dating back 2,000 years and more, the works belong to the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, whose motto is "A nation stays alive when its culture stays alive." 

 Here you will find the Kabul Museum site, and some related links at the bottom of the page.

The Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) is an independent research institute based in Kabul. AREU's mission is to inform and influence policy and practice through conducting high-quality, policy-relevant research and actively disseminating the results, and to promote a culture of research and learning. To achieve its mission AREU engages with policymakers, civil society, researchers and students to promote their use of AREU's research and its library, to strengthen their research capacity, and to create opportunities for analysis, reflection and debate.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha began its involvement with Afghanistan in 1972. In 1974, the Arthur and Daisy Paul Afghanistan Collection was donated to the Center; in 1975, an institutional linkage with Kabul University was established.

Website description: The goal of The Afghanistan Analyst is to provide an online research portal for scholars, students, journalists, policy-makers, NGO/humanitarian workers, members of the armed forces and others who want to better understand Afghanistan.

Audio slideshow: Exploring the Queen's Palace in Kabul

Multimedia photojournalist and filmmaker John D McHugh travelled to Afghanistan in February 2010; he was there to cover the conflict, but during the trip he managed to gain rare access to the off-limits Queen's Palace - a former seat of Afghanistan's royal family - also known as Tajbeg. He says the building and its hopeful but turbulent past represents the sad history of Afghanistan.