ACCP to Restart in Response to Plea by Noted Academic for Inclusive, Neutral Forum?

"Cultural Property Observer" has learned that former members and supporters of the American Council for Cultural Policy indicate a growing interest in creating a neutral forum for the discussion of preserving cultural sites and antiquities in Afghanistan that appears to be otherwise unavailable elsewhere. They have noted calls by academic Larry Rothfield, among others, for a group (in Prof. Rothfield's words, "task force") that would include members of relevant US departments, as well as representatives of cultural heritage NGOs, "collectors, dealers and the museum community" to develop means to protect and preserve Afghanistan's most important cultural sites. See: http://safecorner.savingantiquities.org/

The ACCP, it is recalled, with a broad base of support from the communities that Prof. Rothfield mentions, is the only cultural organization to have had effective discussions with the Departments of Defense and State in the period immediately prior to the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.

Former members of the ACCP indicate that given the apparent inability of any other NGO to provide an inclusive, neutral forum of the nature that is needed, they have begun to discuss the reactivation of the ACCP for this purpose.