Newspapers from Afghanisten
The digital archives of 4 newspapers originating from Kabul are available as a national licence. Among them, three were published in Persian/Pashto and one in English. The issues are mainly from the second half of the 20th century.
The documents within the database can be downloaded in their original layout as PDF files. The service is available free of charge throughout Germany and at German institutes abroad via the system of national licences.
About the Archive
Content (according to the provider East View)
“The Afghan Central Press collection brings together four national, Kabul-based publications of Afghanistan whose long runs and prominence provide a concentrated vantage point for understanding developments in Afghanistan for much of the twentieth century. The English-language Kabul Times is presented alongside Pushto publications Anīs (انیس), Hewād (هیواد) and Iṣlāḥ (اصلاح) .
Together, the archives of these newspapers provide a chronicle of events from the fall of the Kingdom of Afghanistan, the establishment of the People’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the Soviet invasion, the rise of the Mujahedeen, the establishment of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, invasion by the United States and the ensuing period of reconstruction from the view of the capital.”
Text recognition
The full text of the archive was obtained by digital character recognition (OCR). Persian/Pashto are difficult languages in this process. Earlier editions and those based on microfilms have a lower recognition rate.