Afghanistan’s Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs finds its origins in the Directorate of Independent Media, set up in 1946. After 1984 the Ministry divided into three independent Committees: the Cultural Committee (Director Abdul Ghahar Ashena), the Press and Distribution Committee (Director Noorolla) and the Radio and Television Committee (Director Dr Haidar Masood). Ahmad Bashir Ruigar was Minister of Culture until the Mujahideen took over the government in Kabul. In succeeding years the Ministers were Seddig Chakary, Majid Hossaini and Amir Khan Motaghi.

During the Taliban era the Ministry’s activities were concerned mainly with controlling the media to ensure there was no depiction of living beings and the suppression of music for entertainment. Under its own mandate it vowed to protect the built heritage, including the Bamyan sites. However, it is perhaps best remembered for the destruction of the Bamyan Buddhas.

As reconstituted under the Government of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, the vision of the Ministry of Information and Culture is ‘to create an environment where: media - including public information services - are independent, pluralistic and accessible to Afghan men and women throughout the country; the cultural heritage of Afghanistan is preserved, protected and handed on to young generations of Afghans as a record of the rich human experience and aspirations in their country, so as to foster cultural creativity in all its diversity; and sport serves as a unifying element in society and is accessible to all - in particular children, women and disabled.’ Underscoring the new government’s policies is a belief that the emergence of a strong civil society is a prerequisite for independence, pluralism and vitality in the media and culture sectors. The government’s stated aim is therefore to intervene in only a limited number of areas, in particular legislative and policy development, to promote freedom of expression and freedom of the press, and to protect the Afghan cultural heritage against looting, illicit traffic and progressive degradation. It is also committed to upgrading infrastructures and human resources, so as to allow all Afghans to benefit fully from core public services in the area of media, culture and sports.

In practice however, the gap between policy and implementation is wide. Government officials often have little or no prior knowledge of the business of running the department for which they are responsible. Competent staff members with English and IT skills have quickly been snapped up by NGOs or have found work as security guards with foreign agencies at five times the government salary.

The current Minister of Information and Culture, Dr Sayed Makhdoom Raheen (born 1946 in Kabul), earned his PhD in Literature in Tehran University in 1973 and then returned to Kabul to teach at the University. Soon after that he began working with the government in various capacities at the Ministry of Information and Culture.

Today the Ministry of Information and Culture comprises four sectoral areas – art, culture, media, and administration and finance – each of which fall under the control of a Deputy Minister.

The Office of the Deputy Minister, Arts is responsible for the non-tangible heritage. It incorporates the Ministry's Art, Film, Music and Theatre Departments and runs the training schools for music (Afghan Conservatory of Music) and fine art (Afghan Traditional Arts Training School - Ghulam Mohammad Maimanagi), the National Art Gallery, the National Theatre Company and the former National Theatre - Kabul Nandari.

The Office of the Deputy Minister, Culture is concerned mainly with the tangible heritage and incorporates the Afghan Institute of Archaeology, Culture Magazine, the Museums Department, the National Archives, the People's Living Culture Department, Pen Magazine, the Poetry and Literature Department, the Public Libraries Department and the Restoration and Preservation of Historic Monuments Department.

The Office of the Deputy Minister, Media runs Radio-Television Afghanistan, the Radio and Television Archives and the newspapers Arman Weekly, Anis Daily, Hewad Daily and Kabul Times, and also controls the Bakhtar News Agency and Beihagi Publishers. It incorporates the Advertising Monitoring Department, the Distribution Department, the Government Presses Department, the Press Centre Department, the Private Sector Department and the Publications Department.

Foreign relations and day-to-day management of the Ministry is in the hands of the Office of the Deputy Minister, Administration and Finance, which comprises Finance, General Services, Maintenance and Servicing and Personnel Departments and a Planning and Foreign Relations Department.