TALIBAN DECLINE TO MEET UN SECRETARY-GENERAL'S APPEAL TO STOP DEMOLISHING BUDDHA STATUES








ISLAMABAD, March 11 /from RIA Novosti's Vladimir Shreter/ - The Taliban have refused to meet UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's appeal to stop demolishing Buddha statues in Afghanistan, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, Taliban's Foreign Minister, said at a news conference in Islamabad following his talks with the UN Secretary-General and Pakistani Foreign Ministry officials.


	Muttawakil, who arrived in Islamabad specially to meet Kofi Annan, said that the "destruction of the statues is a purely internal matter of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan." The existence of such idols, according to him, contradicts Islamic laws and so the verdict by Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar will be enacted to the end, he said.