Sri Lanka to restore Afghan Buddha statues

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, June 27 (UPI) -- As a first step in strengthening ties, Afghanistan asked Sri Lanka to help rebuild the Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban.

Sri Lankan Deputy Foreign Minister Visva Warnapala said the Afghan government made the request when he met a visiting delegation from Afghanistan in Colombo, the Colombo Page reported online. Afghanistan asked for the assistance of Buddhist scholars and the Department of Archaeology to help reconstruct the Buddha statues.

In 2001 Taliban militiamen destroyed the nearly 2,000-year-old Buddhist masterpieces in the central province of Bamiyan, including the world's tallest standing Buddha measuring 50 meters (165 feet).