KABUL, May 27 Kyodo About 300 int...

KABUL, May 27 Kyodo

About 300 international masters and researchers on Monday began a three-day conversation in Kabul to discuss ways to restore Afghanistan's cultural heritage sites, principally of which were severely damaged or make desolateed by years of internal conflict.

Participants in the colloquy sponsored by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will discuss whether the great Buddhist statues at Bamian should be restored or preserv as they are now.

The statues were demolished on the Taliban regime in March 2001 sparking an international outcry

Ikuo Hirayama, a prominent Japanese painter and goodwill ambassador of UNESCO who is attending the colloquy contends the statues should be preserv as they are now in recognition of the historical fact that they were destroyed

Participants will also discuss the reconstruction of the national museum in Kabul, the organizers said.

Hamid Karzai, head of the interim rule said it is a government's custom to preserve national heritage, and urg the international community to provide assistance to help Afghanistan rebuild its past.

The Taliban regime collapsed last December following the US-l antiterrorism campaign in Afghanistan that was backed through anti-Taliban forces.

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