Taliban Official Defends Statue Destruction

March 23 -- It's not an easy job: coming to America to do public relations for Afghanistan's Taliban government. But 24-year-old Sayed Rahmatullah Hashimi might be the man to do it.

Since it came to power in 1996, the Taliban has been accused of harsh treatment of women, of harboring terrorist training camps and accused terrorist Osama bin Laden, and, recently, of demolishing ancient statues.

Rahmatullah, a foreign ministry official, speaks fluent American English, which he learned while growing up in the squalid refugee camps along the Pakistan border. He also speaks four other languages, and wears clothes — a light grey silk turban with matching scarf — that have a more Western look than the black and dark brown attire typical in Afghanistan.

He spent the week rubbing elbows with congressmen and American diplomats, delivering a well-rehearsed defense of the Taliban's demolition of two huge, ancient Buddha statues carved out of the cliffs at Bamian.

Rahmatullah says Western ambassadors and UNESCO had proposed funding a restoration of the statues at a time when 700 Afghan children are dying monthly from drought-related malnutrition.

"Nobody cares about our people who are dying for lack of food and water. But everyone cares about these statues," Rahmatullah said in an interview.

His argument is open to debate. The United Nations has been providing drought relief in Afghanistan for months.

Angry Opposition

Rahmatullah met with angry opposition in Washington. At a noisy, sometimes contentious news conference on Wednesday, an Afghan-American woman shouted, "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"We are here to listen, we are here to listen to your concerns, I'm not here to be abused," Rahmatullah calmly told the audience. He was less diplomatic with the Afghan-American woman, telling her, "I'm really sorry for your husband, he must have a very difficult time with you."

At a demonstration in Washington on Wednesday, an American woman who had traveled to Afghanistan many years ago challenged Rahmatullah, who supports the Taliban's insistence that women follow a strict interpretation of the Islamic dress code.