JEDDAH: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is seeking an important Saudi role in reconciling with the Taleban, arrived in the Kingdom on Tuesday for talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. He was received on arrival by Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed.
“We have the support of our brothers in Saudi Arabia. We hope King Abdullah will personally assume a prominent role in leading and supporting the peace process (in Afghanistan),” Karzai told Der Spiegel magazine before arriving in Jeddah.
Saudi Arabia has previously said the Taleban need to deny sanctuary to Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden — whose group has waged bloody attacks against the Kingdom — before Riyadh will agree to act as a mediator in any Afghan peace deal.
The Kingdom “holds to its position which rejects entering any negotiations with the Taleban before the group announces very clearly it is severing its connections with extremists and expelling Bin Laden from its territories,” a Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi official was reiterating the statements of Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal last week at the Afghanistan conference in London. Prince Saud said he appreciated Karzai’s call for a Saudi role in peacemaking, but stressed the Taleban had to first declare it is no longer sheltering Bin Laden. At the conference, Saudi Arabia pledged $150 million in aid to the war-ravaged country.
In London, Karzai stressed he plans to reconcile with Taleban leaders as much as they are willing, but he made clear his offer of reconciliation did not extend to anyone in Al-Qaeda, saying there was no room in Afghanistan for terrorists.
