No. 41 PARIS: The head of the United Nations Cultural Agency, UNESCO, says the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan have destroyed the two tallest Buddha statues in the world. Koichiro Matsuura reports that a person who saw the destruction said Taliban troops deployed near the statues refused to carry out the orders to destroy them. He said the Taliban Defense Minister had to send special troops to Bamiyan to do the job. The United States has strongly condemned the Taliban action but said it will not affect international aid for Afghan refugees.