RIYADH, 20 January — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd yesterday held talks with Afghanistan’s interim leader Hamid Karzai and reiterated Saudi Arabia’s support for the Afghan people.
Karzai, who also met with Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, said the Saudi government had given $20 million in emergency aid to rebuild Afghanistan.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat daily, Karzai said Prince Abdullah had told him that the emergency assistance was the first instalment of Saudi aid for the reconstruction of Afghanistan’s infrastructure.
He said he had discussed the issue of Arab Afghans with the crown prince. He said the American forces in Afghanistan would return after completing its mission.
King Fahd welcomed the interim Afghan leader and hoped his government would succeed in bringing about security and stability in Afghanistan. Karzai, who is on his first foreign visit, briefed the king and the crown prince on the present situation in Afghanistan. Karzai also explored prospects of expanding cooperation with the Saudi leaders.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told Arab News that Saudi officials had responded positively to a number of suggestions from the Afghan side during the talks.
"The first thing that should happen is the reopening of the Saudi Embassy in Kabul and our embassy in Riyadh. This is one of the topics on the agenda," he said.
On the question of the fate of some 200 Saudis detained in Afghanistan, Abdullah said he would find out how many Saudis were stranded or detained in his country.
Riyadh wants the Saudis repatriated to the Kingdom.
As Karzai held talks in Riyadh, reports from Afghanistan said six Al-Qaeda members have been captured with their driver on the outskirts of Kabul. Abdul Rab, chief of criminal affairs in Kabul’s northern District 11, said the fighters had been hiding in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province.
The driver picked them up during the week to take them to southern Kandahar province, Abdul Rab said, but acting on a tip-off police intercepted them on the outskirts of Kabul on Friday night.
Abdul Rab said the six, who were not armed, had been interrogated by security forces in District 11, and admitted yesterday they were "Taleban members of Al-Qaeda".
Malaysian police, meanwhile, detained another seven people believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda. Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the seven were suspected members of the Malaysian Mujahedin Group (KMM), which is accused of waging a "holy war" in Malaysia after undergoing military training at camps in Afghanistan.
They were being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which provides for indefinite detention without trial, he said. "There are reasons why they are being detained," Abdullah said without giving further details.
Meanwhile, an international meeting in Tokyo should come close to hitting a target of raising five billion dollars for Afghanistan for the next 30 months but longer term commitments are needed, its co-chair said yesterday. "I hope it will come infinitely close to the target," Sadako Ogata told a news conference ahead of the two-day meeting on the reconstruction of Afghanistan which opens here tomorrow. "I am hopeful that desirable figures will be presented."
The former UN high commissioner for refugees is due to preside over the meeting, which will bring together delegates from 54 countries and 18 international agencies. Aid pledges have so far totaled some three billion dollars, the Jiji Press news agency reported, quoting unofficial UN figures.
The World Bank, the United Nations Development Program and the Asian Development Bank have estimated that rebuilding Afghanistan will require $1.7 billion in the coming year and $4.9 billion over 30 months.
Their assessment, which will provide a basis for talks at the Tokyo meeting, also says $14.6 billion will be necessary for 10 years. Afghan officials say three times that amount will be needed.
Ogata, who returned last Wednesday from a 10-day tour of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran as Japan’s special envoy for Afghan assistance, noted that different countries were making proposals for different lengths of time. "There is no need to be disappointed if the amount does not exactly reach the five billion dollars," she said.
