The Taliban regime has rejected the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plea to halt destruction of the Buddhist statues, reported the Pakistani DAWN online service Monday.
Annan met Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel in Islamabad Sunday but was told the decision could not reversed.
Mutawakel's meeting was his first with Annan since the United Nations slapped tough political and diplomatic sanctions against the Taliban regime in January for their refusal to hand over indicted Osama bin Laden, said AFP.
Mulla Mutawakkil told a news conference after the meeting that he informed Kofi Annan that the decision to demolish the statues was not taken at the jerk of the pulse, and emphasized that the action was after thorough study in the light of edict based on Islamic sharia.
The Afghan foreign minister maintained that the issue of statues destruction was given undue coverage by world media while the situation was "different," said DAWN.
He said "we do admit that these (Buddhist) relics are of cultural importance but their presence in the Islamic Emirate is against the tenets of Islam."
Mutawakkil told reporters that the Afghan regime had similarly told the delegations from other Islamic countries who pleaded against statues' destruction that there was no alternative to the Islamic edict, said the news service.
The demolition of statues was progressing as planned, he said.
Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a decree two weeks ago to demolish the statues, saying his decision was based on orders of God and the Quran, Islam's holy book.
As the Taliban ignored international protests and calls to preserve the statues, clerics from the prestigious Al-Azhar university in Egypt arrived in Kandahar for talks with Omar and Islamic scholars, said reports.
Egypt's top religious leader, Mufti Sheikh Nasr Farid Wassel, told reporters on his departure from Cairo that "from a religious viewpoint it is clear -- these statues are part of the humanity's heritage and do not affect Islam at all."
Wassel was travelling with representatives from the Organization of the Islamic Conference, including Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmud and two top Sunni clerics, Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi and Mohamed al-Rawi, said AFP.
Pakistan, the Taliban's closest ally, dispatched Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider to Kandahar on Saturday but he failed to persuade Mullah Omar to withdraw his edict – Albawaba.com
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