IRAN ASKS AFGHANISTAN TO HALT TALIB VANDALISM








TEHERAN, March 4. /RIA Novosti's correspondent Yevgeni Zainabitdinov/. The Cultural Heritage Organisation of Iran has called on the international community, and also UNESCO, to take undelayed steps and halt Talib vandalism. 


	The RIA Novosti correspondent reports that in a circulated statement the organisation stresses that the destruction by Talibs of historic monuments of pre-Islamic culture in Afghanistan seriously injures the Islamic community in the world. 


	Actions by Taliban leaders under the hiding of Islamic slogans have nothing in common with religion, says the statement. The Taliban "campaign of vandalism pursues narrow selfish aims. Stupid utterances by Talib leaders, particularly as regards the destruction of Buddha statues in the Bamiyan province, is another illustration of how far from Islam they are".