RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah held talks here on Wednesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the ongoing efforts to establish peace and stability in Afghanistan. The talks at the king’s Janadriya ranch outside Riyadh also focused on ways to strengthen relations between the two countries.
During the meeting, King Abdullah decorated the Afghan president with King Abdul Aziz Medallion, the Kingdom’s highest honor. Karzai thanked the king for the honor.
Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman, Assistant Chief of Intelligence Prince Abdul Aziz bin Bandar and Haj Minister Fouad Al-Farsy attended the talks.
Karzai said before arriving in the Kingdom he would seek the mediation of King Abdullah for reconciliation with the Taleban in his bid to foster peace in the war-torn country.
“The Saudi role has become more urgent and important keeping in view the fact that Karzai is ready to go extra mile now to convince Taleban to cease fighting the government in return for an amnesty and jobs,” said one diplomat.
The Afghan president said he is looking forward to “a broader role for Riyadh for peace-building and talks with the Taleban,” said the diplomat.”
Earlier, on arrival at King Khaled International Airport, King Abdullah, Prince Salman and other high-ranking officials received Karzai. Asked about the topics discussed with the king, the diplomat said that the talks also focused on the need for a Taleban commitment to sever contacts with extremists before engaging in negotiations. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal at the London conference echoed similar views last week. Prince Saud has been quoted in a report as saying that “so long as the Taleban do not stop providing shelter to terrorists ... I don’t think the negotiations will be positive or be able to achieve anything.”
Karzai has invited Taleban representatives to a “loya jirga” an assembly of elders in Kabul to be organized in the coming weeks and asked Saudi Arabia to act as an mediator.
Karzai canceled a scheduled meeting with OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu earlier in the day. The meeting was called off because Karzai had reservations over the agenda, a senior official of the Organization of the Islamic Conference said.
The meeting would have addressed the OIC’s role in reducing Afghan security problems and an OIC bid to organize a conference of Islamic scholars on the Afghan issue would also have been discussed, the OIC official said. “We understand that Saudi Arabia supports this drive by the OIC for debate among Afghan religious leaders as a means to convince the Taleban to abandon Al-Qaeda,” the senior OIC official said on telephone from Jeddah.
Karzai has long called on Saudi Arabia to use its influence to persuade the Taleban to lay down arms and join a peace initiative. “To make our program a success we hope that King Abdullah will kindly play a role to guide peace and assist the process,” he told in London last week.
“The role of Saudi Arabia is extremely important for Afghanistan,” Karzai said. “This role we’re seeking is not only for talks with the Taleban. It’s a broader role that we’re seeking, which is for peace-building in Afghanistan, for improved relations with our nations and for reconstruction and assistance.” Saudi Arabia pledged an additional $150 million in aid to Afghanistan at the London conference.
