Afghanistan seeks Saudi aid on talks
King's help sought in getting Taliban to discuss peace
KABUL, Afghanistan - As the Afghan war intensifies and American commanders call for increased troop levels, President Hamid Karzai said yesterday that he had repeatedly sought the intervention of the Saudi royal family to bring the resurgent Taliban to peace negotiations.
But Karzai said his appeals had failed to yield any talks, and his tone suggested a degree of frustration with the Saudi government for not having acted more decisively. Nor was there any indication that senior Taliban leaders were ready for talks on any grounds that the Karzai government and its Western backers would be likely to accept.
On the contrary, the Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, issued a new call on Monday for Afghans to continue their "holy war" against American and other Western troops, and promised that those heeding his call would be rewarded with a collapse of American power in the world, just as the former Soviet Union collapsed after its 10-year occupation of Afghanistan.
Karzai, speaking at his headquarters in the Arg Palace in Kabul, said Afghan envoys had been to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but have been unable to start negotiations with the increasingly assertive Taliban.
The approach to the two governments appeared to stem from their longstanding links with the Taliban - Saudi Arabia as one of only three governments that recognized the Taliban government in Kabul after 1996, and Pakistan because many Taliban leaders are believed to be in hiding there, and because of the history of contacts between the Taliban and Pakistan's military intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence.
"The reality is that for the last two years, we have been sending letters and messages to the king of Saudi Arabia, and requesting him, as a leader of the Islamic world, to help us achieve security, peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and good relations in the region," Karzai said.
"The preparations for negotiations are going on a daily basis," he added. "Our envoys have traveled many times to Saudi Arabia and to Pakistan, but the discussions have not started and nothing has been done yet. If any negotiation happens, it should be inside our country."
Karzai's remarks followed recent news reports that Afghan political leaders had been meeting with the Taliban and other rebel groups in the hope of negotiating peace. But it has not been clear whether the talks took place with government approval. 