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| Afghanistan |
| Afghan peace council wants Saudi Arabia's help |
| 2010-10-22 |
| [Dawn] The Afghan government's newly formed peace council wants The Saudi Entity to play a key role in efforts to reconcile with the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war. Qiyamuddin Kashaaf, front man for the 70-member High Peace Council, said Thursday that The Saudi Entity would be a good place to hold any formal peace talks that might develop from exploratory discussions the Afghan government is having with some high-ranking members of the Taliban. "The Mohammedan Afghan nation wants to bring peace to this country and is asking Islamic countries: 'Help your brothers. It is the responsibility of the Mohammedan world to respond to this request of the Afghan nation,'" Kashaaf told news hounds. He said King of the Arabians Abdullah should help foster talks if peace negotiations in Afghanistan are not successful. "We want the Saudi king to help," Kashaaf said. "If the two sides cannot make peace, my appeal is for the king to take the lead role in the talks." Saudi Arabia once had close ties to the Taliban government that emerged victorious from Afghanistan's civil war in the early 1990s. Pakistain gave diplomatic recognition to Taliban rule in May 1997; recognition followed from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Last February, Karzai sent a small delegation of former Taliban members to Saudi Arabia to seek help in kick-starting talks with the Taliban. But the Saudis said the kingdom would not help unless the Taliban severed all ties with Osama bin Laden -- a Saudi -- and his al-Qaeda terror network. That is also a key demand of both the US and Afghanistan. Pak Foreign Ministry front man Abdul Basit told news hounds on Thursday that Pakistain supports an Afghan-led reconciliation process. "We are working toward that end, and we will continue supporting in whatever way ... the government of Afghanistan wants us to help," he said. "We will leave this issue here because it is better not to get into specifics at this stage." |
| Posted by:Fred |