Restoration work is underway at Afghanistan’s Minaret of Jam, a 12th-century brick monument in the remote valleys of Ghor Province that has suffered repeated flood damage and faced long-standing concerns about collapse.
Images of the rehabilitation effort surfaced in mid-September, when a Taliban official visited the UNESCO-listed site to review work that reportedly began in July. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, working with other organizations, said the scope includes an “emergency intervention to consolidate a critical section of the inner masonry column at the base of the minaret.”
For mason contractors and restoration crews, the Jam project is a clear reminder of where tower stabilization starts: the load path at the base. When water repeatedly attacks foundations and lower courses, the most visible damage up high can trace back to concealed distress below. Emergency consolidation buys time, but it also sets the stage for the longer work of diagnosing why the structure keeps getting threatened in the first place.
Experts told RFE/RL that the restoration also reflects the Taliban’s calculated posture on cultural heritage since 2021. British conservation architect Jolyon Leslie, who has worked in Afghanistan since the early 1990s, said Taliban authorities have been supportive of conservation work and have not interfered with projects his organization has handled, including Buddhist and Jewish heritage. University of Chicago archaeology professor Gil Stein described Taliban policy as complex, with regional differences, and said heritage decisions do not mirror other hardline parts of Taliban rule.
The Taliban issued a February 2021 edict calling for preservation of historic sites, including minarets, towers, and old fortresses. Research tied to the Minaret of Jam, partnered with the Taliban-run Culture Ministry and the Geneva-based ALIPH Foundation, is due to run through 2027 and produce recommendations for further scientific measures to secure the site.
Read the full, original article from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty here.