UNESCO REPRESENTATIVE REQUESTED TO STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
MONUMENTS IN AFGHANISTAN








MOSCOW, 2 March.  (RIA "Nowosti" rIA-"Nowosti"-Korrespondent).  All
countries must set the Afghan Taliban, which destroy monuments of the
before-Islamic time in the country, under printing.  This avowed
Vladimir Fortow, vice-president of the Russian Academy of Sciences and
chairmen of the national commission for UNESCO Angelegeneheiten in
Russia.

One could exert the pressure according to him in " three directions -
within the diplomatic, economic and possibly even military area ".  In
a program of the broadcasting station " echo Moskwy " it noted that "
the USA and Europe, which can influence Afghanistan and Pakistan
strongly must proceed finally hard and unyieldingly and set to this
Barbarei an end ".

According to Vladimir Fortow one must check the possibility of buying
the monuments.  It doubts however that the Taliban this way will go.
We would have to do " with a very extreme form of the fundamentalism
".

Shortly official reaction of the central UNESCO office to the
destruction of the culture values in Afghanistan is to be expected.
UN is to express itself also in this connection very sharply,
definitely and clearly.