ISLAMABAD, March 1 (AFP) - Pakistan, Russia and Germany Thursday joined the mounting international uproar against the Taliban's destruction of Buddhist monuments in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan shares the concerns of the international community over the reported decision by the Afghan government to destroy some of the historical artifacts in Afghanistan," a foreign office spokesman said.

Neighbouring Pakistan is the closest ally of the Taliban and is among only three countries which recognize the fundamentalist Islamic regime.

The spokesman said Pakistan attached great importance to and supported the preservation of world's historical, cultural and religious heritage.

"We appeal to the Afghan government to take measures to fully protect Afghanistan's historical monuments, sites and artifacts which are part of the world's heritage," he said in a statement.

He expressed the hope the Taliban regime would "show the spirit of tolerance enjoined upon by Islam as well as respect for international sentiments in this regard."

Taliban supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar issued a decree on Monday calling for the destruction of all statues in line with "Islamic" laws, and officials in Kabul said Thursday the "work" had begun.

The edict shocked the international community as Afghanistan is home to an array of pre-Islamic historic treasures, including the world's largest standing Budddha carved into a sandstone cliff in central Bamiyan privince.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and UNESCO chief Koichiro Matsuura called on the militia to rescind its order, saying a significant part of the world's cultural heritage was at stake.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Thursday his government was "indignant" about the destruction of statues in Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan has a strong responsibility for conservation of the world artistic heritage on its territory. The destruction of Afghan statues, particularly Bamiyan Buddhas, would be an irreplaceable loss for humanity.

"Nothing justifies such an act," he declared.

The Russian foreign ministry termed the Taliban's action "vandalism" and called on the international community to do all it could to prevent the destruction of the works.

"This action cannot be viewed in any other light but as an attempt to destroy the achievements not only of the Afghan people, but the whole of the world's civilization," a foreign ministry statement said.

India Thursday sent a former foreign secretary to a UNESCO-sponsored meeting in Paris to discuss the destruction.

French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero Wednesday termed Mullah Omar's announcement as "appalling."

In Tokyo, Kijo Nishimura, secretary general of the All Japan Buddhist Association, appealed to the Taliban for an end to the destruction.

"Please stop destroying Buddhist statues. The destruction of historical cultural heritage is a foolish act," he said.

"We cannot deny each religion holds its beliefs as the only truth, but Islamic fundamentalism is extremely radical, as it regards all other religions without exception as vicious."

In deeply Buddhist Thailand, foreign ministry spokesman Pradap Pibulsonggram said this week the loss of the Bamiyan Buddhas would be a "loss to humanity."

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has asked his envoys in India, Thailand, Myanmar and Nepal to work out an international strategy to save the Bamiyan Buddhas.

Nepal, Buddha's birthplace, strongly denounced the decision to destroy the Bamiyan statues, a ministry of foreign affairs spokesman said.

Nepalese professor of culture and archaeology Prem Kumar Khatri said: "The Taliban should have protected the Bamiyan Buddhas in the interests of Afghanistan's economic and cultural heritage."

UNESCO's Matsuura said Wednesday the authors of the edict "carry a terrible responsibility before the people of Afghanistan and before history."

"The loss of the Afghan statues, and of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in particular, would be a loss for humanity as a whole," Matsuura said in a statement issued by the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

In his response earlier this week, Omar told the Pakistan based Afghan Islamic Press: "According to Islam, I don't worry about anything. My job is the implementation of Islamic order."