Each of Afghanistan’s 32 provinces has a Department of Culture and Youth Affairs which reports to both the Provincial Government and to the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs in Kabul - see Cultural policy and infrastructure - provincial government departments. The responsibilities of these Provincial Departments of Culture and Youth Affairs include ensuring the implementation of national policies on culture and youth affairs, giving advice and organising festivals and special events.

Since at the time of writing relatively few cities have phone lines, the difficulty of communication with the Ministry in Kabul permits a great deal of freedom to initiate provincial projects. The provinces thus rely on their own initiatives to take care of their arts and culture, with patchy results. Ultimately however, the general lack of funds remains a serious hinderance to provincial reconstruction activities.