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Saudi Arabia On A Tightrope
Tuesday, October 23, 2001

* Regime Is No Friend Of The Taliban
* But Saudis Don't Want To Appear Anti-Muslim
* Trying To Find A Balance

CBS
The Saudi royal family has no reason to love the Taliban, given the radical Islamic movement's close links with terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. The U.S. military campaign against the Taliban, though, poses a serious problem for Riyadh.

A Special Report
From http://eurasianet.org/

Saudi Arabia was one of only three governments (the other two were Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates) that extended diplomatic recognition to the Taliban after the latter's capture of Kabul in 1996. Riyadh initially provided millions of dollars in aid to the Taliban, despite the fact that bin Laden is a Saudi fugitive who found a safe haven in Afghanistan after he fled Sudan in 1996.

Saudi support for the Taliban appeared quite sensible at the time the movement seized Kabul and gained control over up to 90 percent of Afghanistan. After years of fighting among various Afghan factions, the Taliban seemed capable of bringing order to the country. The highly anti-Shi'ite nature of the Taliban regime may also have appeared useful to the Saudi leaders, who were aiming to keep their Shi'ite Iranian rivals on the defensive.

Saudi officials may even have found it convenient for bin Laden to be in Afghanistan since the Taliban reportedly promised Riyadh that they would keep him under wraps for awhile, and eventually turn him over. In short, the Saudis believed in 1996 that their assistance to the Taliban regime bought Riyadh influence over it.
(More: CBS Worldwide, Inc., News Source)

Dan