The British Library is refusing to store a collection of Taliban material because of UK anti-terrorism legislation.It took the decision not to store the archive, which has been compiled over the past three years, on legal advice. The library was told that it could be in breach of the law if it made the material, which includes Afghan Taliban maps, radio broadcasts and news papers, accessible. Since 2012 experts have been translating the archive into English as well digitising the information. A spokeswoman for the library said: “Although the archive was recognised as being of research value, it was judged that it contained some material which could contravene the Terrorism Act, and which would present restrictions on the Library’s ability to provide access to the archive for researchers. Under the Terrorism Acts of 2000 and 2006 it is an offence to “collect material which could be used by a person committing or preparing for an act of terrorism” and “criminalise the “circulation of terrorist publications.” The point of academic research is to expand knowledge and understanding of the work, and the academic community is rightly upset. Academics condemned the decision as ridiculous, warning that the laws could make them wary about studying terror groups at all. A researcher who worked on the project has also come out saying that, “There’s no recipes for making bombs or anything like that.” He has called the decision short-sighted and said it would put other institutions off hosting similar archives. An additional fact to point out is that the Taliban are not even on the United Kingdom’s official list of terrorist organisations, so the rejection seems strange. The rejection of the archives only makes one ask questions that border on conspiracy theories. How independent and unbiased is academic research in the UK in the first place? Does the British government want to hide something? Is there a national interest angle at play here? But that is the nature of nationalism and ideologies of national security – they can stifle debate and research in even the most democratic countries.
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