http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=213678
February 4, 2010
Saudis want Taliban to expel bin Laden
RIYADH (AP) -- Saudi Arabia said during a visit by Afghan President Hamid
Karzai Tuesday that it will not get involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan
unless the Taliban stops providing shelter and severs all ties with Osama bin
Laden and his al-Qaeda movement.
Karzai is visiting Saudi Arabia hoping for an active Saudi role in his plan to
persuade Taliban militants to switch sides. He met with Saudi officials
Wednesday after performing the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.
Saudi Arabia has a unique relationship with Taliban since it was one of the few
countries to recognize the regime before it was ousted in 2001 and has acted as
an intermediary before.
The Saudi conditions for participating in the talks with Taliban, especially
expelling former Saudi citizen bin Laden, are not new, but Riyadh is making
them clear amid a new international push to work with the Afghan militants.
Saudi officials say they need a Taliban commitment to renounce its contacts
with extremists before engaging the group.
"So long as the Taliban doesn't stop providing shelter for terrorists and bin
Laden and end their contacts with them, I don't think the negotiations will be
positive or even able to achieve anything," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud
al-Faisal said in London last week.
"They must tell us that they gave this up, and prove it of course," he said,
according to the privately owned Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat, adding that an
official mediation request is needed.
His views were reiterated Tuesday by a Foreign Ministry official who said that
bin Laden would have to be expelled from Taliban-controlled lands and the group
must clearly declare its new position.
Desire for dialogue
Bin Laden is a member of a wealthy Saudi family but fell out with the
government in the early 1990s over the presence of U.S. troops there. He has
repeatedly condemned the ruling family and was stripped of his citizenship in
1994.
Saudi Arabia hosted members of the Afghan government and Taliban over a meal
during the holy month of Ramadan in 2008 at the request of Karzai. But the
talks didn't get very far.
Saudi analyst Anwar Eshki said informal Saudi contacts with Taliban members
have been made in recent months to gauge the group's mood.
"Saudi Arabia will not get involved unless the two sides ask for it, unless
there is a desire for dialogue," said Eshki, the head of the Middle East Center
for Strategic and Legal Studies in Jeddah.
In London, Karzai stressed he plans to reconcile with Taliban leaders as much
as they are willing, but he made clear his offer of reconciliation did not
extend to anyone in al-Qaida, saying there was no room in Afghanistan for
terrorists.
Karzai has said previously he is willing to talk to Taliban leader Mullah
Mohammed Omar and welcome back any militants who are willing to recognize the
Afghan constitution. However, the Taliban has always set the withdrawal of
international troops as a precondition for any negotiations.
Karzai called that unrealistic, saying the NATO coalition should be expected to
stay until they achieve their goal of removing al-Qaida and other terrorist
threats.
Request for mediation
At the conference, Saudi Arabia pledged an addition $150 million in aid to the
war-ravaged country.
Karzai has said he is looking forward to a key Saudi role, not only in
reconstruction, but a broader role for peace-building and talks with Taliban.
His spokesman Waheed Omar told Asharq al-Awsat Tuesday that Karzai is expected
to officially asked Saudi Arabia for mediation. He added that Afghans highly
value the kingdom, which is viewed as the center of the Islamic world, and its
leaders as the only ones able to convince Taliban leaders to discuss peace.
Saudi Arabia is wary of getting involved in Afghanistan again, following its
role in funding the anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s and later the movement
that became the Taliban.
The editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, Tariq Alhomayed, cautioned Saudi
officials against "entanglement" in Afghan affairs, saying the last time it got
involved, the kingdom ended up being blamed alone for rising militancy there
after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Our fear is that history will repeat itself, albeit with different events," he
wrote Tuesday. "The question that must be asked today is: What is required from
Saudi Arabia today; the rescue of Afghanistan, to save U.S. face, or will Saudi
Arabia becoming entangled in Afghanistan once again?"
Next year critical
Meanwhile, in Washington, the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday the next
12 to 18 months will be critical to reversing momentum gained by insurgents.
Not only that, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told
the Senate Armed Services Committee: "Our future security is greatly imperiled
if we do not win the wars we are in."
Further, he added, "The outcome of today's conflicts will shape the global
security environment for decades to come."
Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates appeared together in Congress to
defend the Pentagon's request to spend $192 billion on the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan for the next year and a half. Of that amount, $33 billion would be
spent to widen the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan by sending 30,000 more troops
there by fall.
Photo: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (R) meets Afghan President Hamid Karzai
upon his arrival at Riyadh airport February 3, 2010. (Reuters photo) -
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