Saudi Arabia says no mediation with Taliban unless it expels bin Laden from its territories

Saudi Arabia wants Taliban to expel bin Laden

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — 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-Qaida movement.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is visiting Saudi Arabia hoping for a active Saudi role in his plan to persuade Taliban militants to switch sides. He will meet 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.

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.

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?”

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Associated Press Writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report from Cairo.