RIYADH, 24 October — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd held talks with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer here yesterday. The royal audience was followed by official talks between Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and the German minister, which focused on the need for a stable future for Afghanistan.
Fischer, who held wide-ranging talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, said that the two sides discussed as how to support Afghanistan’s ex-king Zahir Shah’s efforts to form a post-Taleban government in Kabul.
Shah, who ruled Afghanistan for 40 years before he was overthrown in a 1973 coup, has been seeking support from the European Union and the Islamic countries to form a transitional government.
The German minister arrived here on Monday night on the first leg of a weeklong tour to the Middle East countries.
Referring to the topics of his talks with the Saudi leaders, Fischer said that the Kingdom and Germany will back efforts to encourage the formation of a stable and legitimate government, representative of the whole Afghan people.
“We also agreed that the solution must take into account the interests of the neighboring countries and the international community and that there must be an important role for the United Nations,” Fischer added.
“Saudi Arabia has renewed its commitment to cooperate with the US-led coalition against terrorism and the United Nations should ensure the formation of a government in Kabul that does not support terrorism,” he said, emphasizing the significance of the Kingdom for the coalition against terrorism.
On the Middle East peace process, the German minister said “the two countries have agreed to make a serious attempt to ensure contacts between the Palestinians and the Israelis sooner within the framework of the Mitchell plan, which calls for an end to violence and a halt to Israeli settlements.”
Asked whether the issue of Afghan civilian casualties was raised, Fischer said: “This is not only our concern but an American concern. Everything must be done to avoid civilian casualties and to protect people from more terrible things happening.”
Fischer, who visited Pakistan and Tajikistan last week for talks on the Afghan crisis, left for Iran later yesterday.
