Open Access archive: Taliban Sources Repository

The Taliban Sources Project (TSP) is one of few Taliban documentation projects in existence and is the only collection to include the cultural, social, and legal output for the years 1979-2011.

The TSP has transformed a large private collection of Taliban documents into an enduring and usable intellectual resource for scholars of Afghanistan, Taliban and Asian history.

Compiled between 2006 and 2011 by researchers based in southern Afghanistan, the TSP collection is one of only a few such private documentation projects in existence, and is the only collection to include Taliban’s cultural, social and legal output for the years 1979-2011.

Original documents and English translations

Researchers can now search and view English translations as well as the original Pashto, Dari and (in some cases) Arabic. The material includes:

Full runs of dozens of official newspapers and magazines
Works of poetry
Maps
Night letters
Press releases
Transcripts of radio broadcasts
Memoirs
Government publications
Government publications include the Taliban’s own foreign press monitor and multiple volumes of Taliban laws and edicts.

Background

The TSP was initially started by Thesigers, which processed and translated the materials presented on this website over a two-year period (2013-2015), in order to ensure the survival and public accessibility of this unique corpus of primary sources.

The Taliban Sources Project (TSP) was launched online in 2020 by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) in cooperation with the University of Oslo.

Access

The TSP is a non-profit venture and access to the collection is free of charge. Please sign up in order to access the materials.

Quoting

If you use any of the material in the collection, please include a reference to the Taliban Sources Project at FFI/UiO.

Example:

Mohammad Omar, “Eulogy of Martyr of the Islamic Umma Mujahed Abu Mosaab Zarqawi,” 1 June 2006, Al-Somood 1, no. 1 (June 2006), accessed via Taliban Sources Project at FFI/UiO, https://tsp.hf.uio.no.

Contact

If you have questions or feedback regarding the TSP, please send us a mail at tsp-contact@ikos.uio.no.

Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI)

PO Box 25

N-2027 Kjeller

Norway

Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS)

University of Oslo

The Faculty of Humanities

PO Box 1010 Blindern

N-0315 Oslo

Norway

Link: https://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/research/taliban-sources-repository/