RIYADH, 29 September — Prince Abdullah, the regent, yesterday held talks here with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the situation in the Middle East and the Palestinian problem.
The two leaders also discussed Islamic and international developments and reviewed bilateral ties and ways of boosting them.
The Afghan leader, heading a high-level delegation including the foreign and finance ministers, arrived in Jeddah on Friday and performed Umrah before heading to Riyadh.
Karzai, who visited Saudi Arabia in January on his first foreign trip as leader of post-Taleban Afghanistan, later arrived in Abu Dhabi where he will meet with President Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al-Nahayan today before traveling to Qatar.
Karzai is seeking speedy delivery of more than $4 billion in foreign donations pledged by several countries, including Saudi Arabia, to be spent on rebuilding his country after 23 years of civil war and foreign military intervention.
Two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia joined the United States and Japan in pledging $50 million to fund a $250 million highway reconstruction project in Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia has requested the release of Saudi members of Al-Qaeda held in Afghanistan, so the issue was expected to come up during Karzai’s visit.
Afghan presidential chief of staff, Tayeb Jawad, said on Thursday Karzai’s government was willing to extradite Saudi and other foreign nationals.
