Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil AhmadMutawakel said he will meet United Nations SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan in Pakistan to defend the Afghan regime'sdestruction of ancient statues.
"I will tell him that what we are doing is an internal religiousissue. It is not aimed at challenging the world," he said.
Mr Annan is due to arrive in Islamabad later today at the startof tour of South Asia where issues such as Kashmir and nuclearnon-proliferation were expected to take center stage.
But the Taliban fundamentalist Islamic regime's edict last weekordering the annihilation of all statues in Afghanistan has provokedinternational outrage and moved close to the top of Mr Annan's agendain Pakistan.
Mr Mutawakel shrugged off the international appeals for the preservation of the historic statues, including two massive Buddhastatues in central Bamiyan province which are among the great worksof the ancient world."We would like to repeat that the decree is irreversible. It isa religious and internal issue," he said, adding that "work" wascontinuing on the country's pre-Islamic heritiage.
Taliban officials ysterday said almost a quarter of the twocolossal Bamiyan Buddhas had been destroyed, in line with an edictissued last week to stop idolatry.
The Taliban have been attacking the figures, carved intosandstone cliffs more than 1,500 years ago when Afghanistan was aseat of Buddhism, with everything from tanks and rockets todynamite.
Hundreds of other historic figures around the country are alsobelieved to have been smashed but the damage is impossible toconfirm as the militia has refused observers access.
Afghanistan was a centre of Buddhism until around the ninthcentury when Islamic invaders arrived, and its museums are full ofsome of the most important Buddhist artifacts in the world.
Three Japanese politicians on a special mission to persuade theTaliban to stop the destruction held lengthy meetings with Mr Mutawakel yesterday, but left the talks empty-handed.
AFP