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HOME 'My Dear President' Supporting the Rule of (Afghan) Law Who's the Cat That Won't Cop Out When There's Danger All About? Finding New Treasures Lyrical Legacy She Sat Down for What She Believed A Cartoonist Who Came in from the Cold
Supporting the Rule of (Afghan) Law

The Law Library of Congress is the largest such library in the world, and its specialists are frequently asked by members of Congress to report on how other nations have handled issues similar to those faced by the U.S. lawmakers. The Law Library has also come to the aid of other nations that have come to rely on its comprehensive collections of laws overseas.
Brick by Brick-- Together You Can Build a New Afghanistan, 2001 or 2002 'Afghan American Man Holding U.S. Flags and Wearing Red, White and Blue in His Turban Participates in a Vigil Held by His Community at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Following the Attacks of September 11th,' ca. 2001

For example, in 2002, U.S. State Department officials, working with local judges in Afghanistan, tried to find the country's laws to use them in the effort to return the rule of law to that beleaguered nation. When they could not find these legal materials in Afghanistan, the State Department turned to the Law Library of Congress and other U.S. law libraries for assistance.
The Law Library of Congress located a unique two-volume English translation of Afghanistan's laws within its collection of more than 2.5 million items.

"The effort to reconstruct Afghanistan's laws is an example of the Law Library's dedication to supporting the rule of law among nations around the world and our ability to provide the necessary support in a timely fashion," said Law Librarian of Congress Rubens Medina.

Under Taliban rule, most of Afghanistan's codes and statutory and regulatory sources were destroyed. The Law Library of Congress, which contains the largest collection of Afghanistan's laws in the world, was asked by the International Resources Group (a nongovernmental organization) and the American Bar Association's Asia Law Initiative to locate a missing portion of this material that was unavailable elsewhere. This effort was part of a larger State Department initiative to reassemble the laws that were in effect before Taliban rule and Soviet occupation, including the 1964 constitution, and distribute approximately 1,000 copies to key institutions in Afghanistan.

The material in the Law Library of Congress has been digitized as part of the Global Legal Information Network, a cooperative, not-for-profit federation of government agencies or their designees that contribute national legal information to a database containing statutes, regulations and related legal materials in the vernacular. You can also find multinational legal information on the Law Library's Web site.

The Law Library offers myriad resources on Afghan law, including links to its Constitution, Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice, and the Afghan government Web site. Another place for excellent information on Afghanistan and more than 200 other nations is Portals to the World, a Web site with links to cultural, educational, legal and historical materials for each nation.


A. [Brick by Brick-- Together You Can Build a New Afghanistan], 2001 or 2002. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction information: Reproduction No.: LC-DIG-ppmsca-02035 (digital file from original, recto), LC-DIG-ppmsca-02036 (digital file from original, verso); Call No.: Unprocessed in PR 13 CN 2002:104 [item] [P&P].

B. Lana Lawrence, photographer. "Afghan American Man Holding U.S. Flags and Wearing Red, White and Blue in His Turban Participates in a Vigil Held by His Community at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Following the Attacks of September 11th," ca. 2001. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction information: Reproduction No.: LC-DIG-ppmsca-02133 (digital file from original); Call No.: Unprocessed in PR 13 CN 2002:***, AP 506.2 [item] [P&P]
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