March 15, 2001

Third largest Afghanistan statue confirmed destroyed
Photographs from Afghanistan have confirmed the destruction by Taleban militia of the third largest of the giant statues of Buddha in the country.

Don't alienate Taliban for Buddha destruction: Pakistani FM
TOKYO, March 15 (AFP) - Japan and other industrial nations should not alienate Afghanistan's Taliban regime for the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues,

Afghan rivals agree to one week "polio" truce
ISLAMABAD, March 14 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's warring parties have agreed to a truce for one week to allow for a polio immunisation programme to take place in the country, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Bamiyan Buddhas laid to rest
By Siddharth Varadarajan The Times of India News Service 3/15/01
KABUL: Finally laying to rest any last glimmer of hope about the fate of the Bamiyan Buddhas, the Taliban on Wednesday said that although 100 per cent `work' has not yet been completed,

Afghan Taliban shut BBC office, expel reporter
KABUL, March 15 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement on Thursday closed the Kabul office of the British Broadcasting Corporation and expelled its correspondent after accusing

European Union condemns destruction of giant Buddhas in Bamiyan
STOCKHOLM, March 14 (AFP) - European Union culture ministers Wednesday condemned the destruction of two giant Buddha statues in Bamiyan on the orders of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

Sri Lankan PM offers to purchase historic artifacts from Taliban
ISLAMABAD, March 14 (AFP) - Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Wednesday offered to purchase whatever historic artefacts are left in Afghanistan, a Sri Lankan diplomat said.

Sarajevo wants ruins from Afghan Buddhas
SARAJEVO, March 14 (AFP) - Sarajevo's Muslim mayor has asked Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia to send the ruins from the two giant Buddha statues to the Bosnian capital for safe-keeping, his office said Wednesday.

Pakistan could sign CTBT before India: foreign minister
TOKYO, March 15 (Kyodo) - By: Maya Kaneko Visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said Thursday his country could sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) before its archrival India

Pavarotti offers UN concert for Afghan refugees
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Opera star Luciano Pavarotti is organizing a benefit concert in May for Afghan refugee children in Pakistani camps, the United Nations announced on Wednesday.

Destroying History's Treasures
By TINA ROSENBERG - The New York Times 3/15/01 EDITORIAL OBSERVER
The destruction in Afghanistan's Bamiyan valley of two giant statues of Buddha was a shocking act, even by the standards of the Taliban, whose suffocating form of Islam has already outraged the world

Echoes of the Bamiyan barrage
By Tahir Mirza - DAWN (Pak.) 3/15/01 Opinion
LOCKED in by unseasonably cold weather in the Washington area, two Pakistani journalists sat brooding over the latest Taliban 'tour de force' - the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues.

The Buddha tragedy and beyond
By Edward Girardet - The Chrisian Science Monitor - Geneva 3/14/01 - Opinion
Neither the West nor the select Islamic nations voicing their condemnation should be surprised by the Taliban's laying waste to Afghanistan's cultural heritage. These Islamic fundamentalist "students of the Koran

Pakistani fundamentalist backs Taliban over statues
ISLAMABAD, March 14 (AFP) - An Islamic fundamentalist leader in Pakistan on Wednesday defended the Taliban militia's destruction of the ancient Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan.

Full text of Taleban statement
The Taleban accuses the BBC of lack of impartiality over the destruction of pre-Islamic artifacts - BBC
The Taleban statement announcing the expulsion of BBC correspondent Kate Clark was carried by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency:

British "extremely concerned" at expulsion of BBC reporter
LONDON, March 14 (AFP) - Britain's Foreign Office said on Wednesday it was "extremely concerned" at reports that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia had expelled the BBC's correspondent from the country.

Pakistan reopens Afghan border after Taliban apology
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 14 (AFP) - The Pakistan-Afghanistan border was reopened Wednesday after Taliban officials tendered an apology over the behaviour of some border guards, officials said.

Afghan warring sides agree to polio vaccination truce
ISLAMABAD, March 14 (AFP) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and its rival Northern Alliance have agreed to a temporary ceasefire for a polio immunisation drive this week, the United Nations said Wednesday.

Buddhas not destroyed by Muslims: Tunisian newspaper
TUNIS, March 14 (AFP) - The destruction of ancient statues in Afghanistan could never have been carried out by people of the Islamic faith, newspaper Le Temps wrote Wednesday in an editorial criticizing the Taliban regime.

Destruction of statues a blow to Islam - official
Islamabad, March 14, IRNA -- Chairman of the Cultural Research Center of Afghanistan, Moulana Abdul Qadir Imami Ghori on Wednesday said demolition of statues by hardline Taliban militia

Taliban vows to keep thumbing nose at the world
By Takayuki Kasuga Mainichi Daily News (Japan) March 14, 2001
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Afghanistan's fundamentalist rulers are "quite prepared" to continue to thumb their noses at the rest of the world, Afghani Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil t

Mulla Omar questions world double standard
By Muhammad Jalil The News: Jang, March 14, 2001
KANDAHAR: The international community has started a hue and cry over the destruction of statues made of stone but the world conscience did not move over the killing of 8,000 Taliban and the desecration

Buddhas' destruction damages Pakistan's image
By Shadaba Islam DAWN (Pak.) March 14, 2001
BRUSSELS: The destruction of two ancient Buddhas in Bamiyan by the Taliban has reinforced international perceptions of the Kabul regime as an extremist, semi-medieval force with few links to the modern world.

De-Islamizing Islam: The Taliban Project
By MAULANA WAHIDUDDIN KHAN The Times of India (Editorial) March 14, 2001
WHEN I visited Afghanistan during the last days of communist Russia's political domination, I found Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, entirely intact, but today, under the so-called Islamic regime of the Taliban