PARIS, August 17./TASS/. UNESCO calls on the world community to protect cultural heritage sites in Afghanistan, UNESCO press officer Thomas Mallard told TASS on Tuesday.

"UNESCO is closely following the developments in Afghanistan and coordinates its actions with the partner agencies within the system of the United Nations Organization to ensure the safety of personnel," he said.

"The rich and diverse heritage on the territory of Afghanistan is of exceptional value for humankind. And this heritage must be preserved," Thomas Mallard said.

First and foremost, this concerns the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, the Museum of Islamic Art in Ghazni, UNESCO world heritage sites - the minaret and archeological sites in Jam, as well as the cultural landscape and archeological finds in Bamiyan Valley, he said.

The fighters of the Taliban radical militant group (outlawed in Russia) entered Kabul without encountering any resistance on Sunday and started to take control of government buildings, the Al Arabiya TV Channel reported. President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani left the country. The Taliban later announced that it had established control of all the districts in the Afghan capital.

French specialists have expressed fear over the fate of Afghanistan’s historic monuments. In 2001, Taliban militants blasted two statues of Buddha in the central part of the country. They were carved in the rocks in the 6th century and were part of Buddhist monasteries. The destruction of cultural monuments shocked the global community and was condemned at the time.