Library
Collecting, cataloging, digitizing, and sharing resources through online databases. A reading room and research room serve over 40,000 visitors on campus each year — and another 100,000 users online.
Explore the LibraryNation building through information sharing
Explore more than 200,000 documents on Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's premier research, archival and knowledge institution — preserving the nation's documentary heritage, promoting literacy, strengthening academic research and expanding public access to knowledge.
600,000
books distributed, mainly for children & girls
Our education services
- 0
- Libraries established across Afghanistan
- 0
- Books distributed, mainly for children & girls
- 0
- Research, conferences, seminars, debates, film festivals & photo exhibitions
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- Books, newspapers, magazines, journals, photos & podcasts archived
Our programs
The most comprehensive research resources about Afghanistan.
The mission of the center is to promote literacy, facilitate scientific research and provide academic research training through archives, digital library and research programs.
ABLE
A program to publish books, promote a culture of reading and develop libraries in Afghanistan. Since 1996, ABLE has published 365+ locally authored titles in Dari, Pashto, Uzbeki and English, with box libraries in all 34 provinces.
Discover ABLEResearch
A platform for training scholars in research methodology, critical analysis and academic writing — including a migration research project with City, University of London.
Join the Research
ABLE · ACKU Box Library Extension
One of Afghanistan's most successful literacy initiatives.
Newly literate children and adults often lose their reading skills because books aren't available. ABLE answers with easy-to-read books by Afghan writers and community box libraries — recognized with the Bibi Gul Literacy Prize.
One Book One Child
Children love stories. Give them the gift of one.
Stories help children understand the world and the people in it, expanding their imagination and their reading skills. All of these stories are written by local authors — original, easy to read, and promoting a culture of peace, tolerance, equality and human rights.
Our history
From a refugee-resource archive in Peshawar to a national institution in Kabul.
“Nation building through information sharing.”
Nancy Hatch Dupree, co-founder
- 1989
ARIC is founded in Peshawar
The ACBAR Resource and Information Center is established to preserve documents from the Afghan humanitarian response — envisioned by scholars Louis Dupree and Nancy Hatch Dupree.
- 1996
ABLE begins
The ACKU Box Library Extension starts publishing easy-to-read books and building community libraries.
- 2006
Home at Kabul University
The collection relocates from Peshawar to the Kabul University campus, creating a permanent home for the country's largest specialized archive on Afghanistan.
- 2007
Registered NGO #36
Officially registered with the Ministry of Economy of Afghanistan.
- 2013
A purpose-built centre
The new ACKU building is officially inaugurated on 27 March 2013 — one of the region's most significant centres for Afghan documentation and scholarship.
Tahleelnama
Commentary, opinion & reflection.
The United States and the Detriments of Cavalier Colonial Knowledge Production on Afghans and Afghanistan
As a group of friends from Afghanistan, Iran, Northern Cyprus, and Egypt, the usual discussions we have in the Oxford common rooms are on our languages, traditions and heritage, or…
Read the essay
Traditional, Monopolistic or Charismatic? The Question of Political Legitimacy in Afghanistan
Political legitimacy is a virtue of political institutions and of the decisions—about laws, policies, and candidates for political office—made within them.
Where does Afghanistan stand on the Sustainable Development Goal 1: No Poverty?
Afghanistan has put in the effort since 2015 to ensure that it achieves most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the country…
Covid-19 Stories
Stories of heroism, bravery, failures and victories.
Stories of citizens' struggles with the coronavirus — real people who have tried to survive.
Video archive · @acku2007
Over 6,300 videos, digitized & free to watch.
Broadcast archives, round-tables and public programmes preserved on ACKU's YouTube channel — including the Tanin TV series «شما و شورای ملی» on parliamentary elections.
- شما و شورای ملی: آشنایی با روند بررسی شکایات انتخاباتی
- شما و شورای ملی: گزارش و میزگرد انتخابات شورای ملی در ولایت غزنی
- شما و شورای ملی: گزارش و میزگرد انتخابات شورای ملی در ولایت کاپیسا
شما و شورای ملی: گزارش و میزگرد انتخابات شورای ملی در ولایت بلخ
News
From the archive.
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Library AcquisitionsDonation of 30 title books and 300 issues of newspaper
Khawar Publications generously donated 30 books that cover various aspects of Afghanistan's history and culture to the ACKU.
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Library Newsاهدای ۳۸ جلد کتاب به آرشیف مرکز
شماری از نویسندگان کتاب‌های شان را به منظور فهرست‌نویسی، دیجیتال‌سازی و نشر الکترونیک به آرشیف ACKU اهدا کردند.
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Newsآثار و کارنامه‌ی فرهنگی-آموزشی استاد غلام‌حضرت راسخ
مرکز معلومات افغانستان افتخار دارد که اینک آثار بینظیر روان نویسی شده ی مرحوم استاد غلام حضرت راسخ…
Our experience — the leading literacy, archiving & research organization in Afghanistan
Support ACKU
Help us promote literacy and education for educationally-deprived children and youth of Afghanistan.
Donate via PayPalAbout ACKU
The premier research institution and archive on Afghanistan in the region.
With the most extensive collection of primary resources available in print and digital formats, ACKU promotes literacy, facilitates scholarly work, and provides academic research training through its archive, digital library, and outreach and research programs.
Visit
Inside Kabul University Campus
PD3 1006, Kabul, Afghanistan
Opening hours
Saturday – Wednesday
8:00 AM – 4:30 PM