UNESCO REPRESENTATIVE COMES OUT AGAINST VANDALISM IN AFGHANISTAN COMMITTED BY TALIBS








MOSCOW, MARCH 2, 2001. /RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT/. The world nations must exert pressure on the Taleban who destroy the monuments of pre-Islamic history in Afghanistan. This was disclosed by Vladimir Fortov, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Chairman of the National Commission representing UNESCO in Russia.


	We must "resort to all means including diplomatic, economic, and maybe military pressure. The USA and European nations, since they exert their strong influence on Afghanistan and Pakistan, must take stringent and coercive measures to put an end to vandalism there, said the scholar, speaking on the air of the Ekho Moskvy radio broadcasting station.


	The other variant is to "pay ransom" for the historical monuments. However, the Taleban are unlikely to agree to this bid, as we deal with an extremely fundamentalist movement, Vladimir Fortov believes.


	We are expecting the UNESCO head office to assume an official attitude towards the annihilation of the cultural sacred places of Afghanistan. UNO also must express its strong and considered opinion about the facts of vandalism, the Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences said.