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WASHINGTON, U.S.A, March 20, 2001: The US has dismissed as “inaccurate and self-serving” the Taliban militia’s explanation that it blew up two giant Buddha statues in Afghanistan in a fit of pique after a foreign delegation offered money to help preserve these ancient artifacts. “We definitely don’t buy this explanation,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said after US officials had a “working-level” meeting with Taliban representative Sayed Rahmatullah Hashimi. Earlier, Hashimi who expressed no remorse over the demolitions, told The New York Times that the Taliban made its decision in a rage after the delegation including a representative of Unesco offered money for the statues while a million Afghans faced starvation. “When your children are dying, you don’t care about a piece of art,” he added.

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