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CEO to Leave for Saudi Arabia on 3-Day State Visit
CEO deputy spokesman, Jawid Faisal says that Abdullah Abdullah will urge Saudi for further pressures on Pakistan and will sign a number of agreements with Arabic officials on economic and higher education sectors.
“Three agreement will be signed on economic, education and cultural sectors. Afghanistan seeks to gain the cooperation of the region for counter-terrorism and Saudi Arabia can play an effective role in this issue,” said Jawid Faisal, CEO deputy spokesman.
Faisal noted that CEO will visit Pakistan on Afghan peace process issue in the near future.
Political analysts believe that the Saudi Arabia can play an essential role in pressing Pakistan for counter-terrorism.
“The Saudi Arabia had played role in formation of Taliban group and it can also put effective pressures on Pakistan,” said Meya Gul Wasiq, political analyst.
Saudi Arabia’s ties to Afghanistan exploded into view on September 11, 2001. Saudi national Osama bin Laden, the 9/11 mastermind and al-Qaeda chieftain, was given refuge by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
But the kingdom’s connections to Afghanistan predate the U.S. terror attacks. Beginning in the late 1980s, Saudi Arabia–along with the United States, Pakistan, and others–began supporting the Afghan resistance movement against the Soviet occupation.
Saudi Arabia funneled money and fuel directly to Afghans, as well as through Pakistan’s covert intelligence agency, the ISI.
Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid writes in his 2000 book, Taliban, that the Saudis gave nearly “$4 billion in official aid to the [mujahadeen] between 1980 and 1990, which did not include unofficial aid from Islamic charities, foundations, the private funds of Princes and mosque collections.”