In what appears to be the first reach out to the new Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia said that it hopes the new interim government will help the war-torn nation achieve ‘stability and overcome violence and extremism.
Saudi Arabia will support “the choices the Afghan people make regarding the future of their country, away from external interference”, the country’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, without elaborating much on the Taliban’s approach to governance.
Speaking at a news conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that the kingdom hopes the formation of the caretaker administration in Afghanistan will be a “step in the right direction towards achieving security and stability, rejecting violence and extremism, building a bright future in line with these aspirations”.
The Saudi foreign minister said the kingdom respects Afghanistan’s sovereignty and reaffirmed his country’s support for the Afghan people, pledging to provide assistance in tiding over this ‘difficult time’. He also expressed his condolences for the people of Afghanistan and the families of the victims who lost their lives in the Kabul airport bombings last month.
During the Taliban’s earlier rule in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, Saudi Arabia was among the three countries, along with Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which accepted the legitimacy of the regime.