Taliban Troops Prepare Explosives to Destroy Buddhas

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 2 (AP) - Taliban troops were at work Friday assembling explosives to fell two ancient statues of Buddha that were deemed, like every other statue in Afghanistan, to be idolatrous, authorities said.

``The Buddhas in Bamiyan were not touched today, but preparations are being made,'' said Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan.

Already damaged by tank fire and rocket launchers, the giant statues of Buddha in Bamiyan province, carved in the 3rd and 5th centuries, will require heavy explosives to fully destroy.

The soaring world heritage statues of Buddha measure 53 meters (175 feet) and 37 meters (120 feet) tall. The taller Buddha is believed to be the world's tallest standing Buddha.

``So far today, they have not been destroyed,'' the Taliban's deputy interior minister, Mullah Mohammed Khaqzar, confirmed in Kabul.

The Taliban, who rule about 95 percent of Afghanistan, espouse a harsh brand of Islam that bars women from working, girls from attending school, forces women to wear the burqa, which covers them from head to toe, and requires them to travel with a male relative. It bans most forms of light entertainment and demands that men wear beards and pray at a mosque.

They are fighting an opposition led by ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani and made up several small groups, some of whom espouse the same version of Islam.

Governments around the world protested the Taliban's destruction of Afghanistan's priceless ancient Buddhist statues, with other Muslim states saying it makes Islam look bad and suggesting that the regime turn to solving social problems instead.

India suggested that the Taliban hand the treasures over for it to preserve.

``If the Taliban do not wish to retain their inheritance, India would be happy to arrange for the transfer of all these artifacts to India, where they would be kept safely and preserved for all mankind,'' Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said in Parliament.

In Europe, Swedish Culture Minister Marita Ulvskog said Friday that she was dismayed.

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