Kabul, February 01: Afghan President Hamid Karzai will visit Saudi Arabia this week, a spokesman said on Monday after the US-backed leader called on the oil-rich kingdom to help bring about peace with the Taliban.
“The President will leave Kabul for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and meet with the Saudi king, King Abdullah, on Wednesday,” presidential spokesman Siamak Herawi said.
He did not give further details but Karzai has long called on Saudi Arabia to use its influence to persuade the Islamist Taliban rebels to lay down their arms and join a peace initiative.
“To make our programme a success we hope that His Majesty King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia will kindly play a role to guide peace and assist the process,” he told an international conference in London last week.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the UAE were the only countries to recognise Afghanistan’s 1996-2001 Taliban government, which was toppled by US-led forces after the September 11 attacks.
Karzai won backing for a new peace and reconciliation programme with the Taliban at the London conference, which aimed to lay down a roadmap for the war-torn country’s future. If the plan is successful, Taliban fighters who renounce violence will be provided with opportunities such as jobs and protection, according to officials.
Karzai called yesterday for Taliban leaders to join the scheme, which he has described as a “good chance to bring security” to Afghanistan.
–PTI