Saudi Arabia cut all ties with Afghanistan's Taliban government yesterday, saying Afghan leaders were defaming Islam by harboring and supporting terrorists.
The move by one of the most influential nations in the Islamic world leaves Pakistan the only country to maintain diplomatic relations with the Taliban, and hands the US a major success in its bid to isolate the hardline Islamic Taliban militia over their refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden.
Bin Laden, a Saudi dissident, lives in exile in Afghanistan.
Without identifying bin Laden by name, the Saudi government accused the Taliban of continuing "to use their land to harbor, arm and encourage criminals who carry out terrorist attacks which frighten the innocent and spread horror and destruction in the world."
The attacks "defame Islam and defame Muslims' reputation in the world," the government said, in a statement carried on the official Saudi news agency.
Since seizing power in 1996, the Taliban have made their land "a center for attracting, training and recruiting a number of deceived men from different nationalities ... in order to carry out criminal acts that violate any faith and creed," the Saudis said.
It accused the Taliban of resisting all urgings to "hand over those criminals to justice," including, most recently, appeals by the Pakistani government.
Saudi Arabia insisted it would stand by the Afghan people themselves, and work for whatever would achieve security and prosperity for Afghans.
Only three nations have recognized the Taliban after they seized control in Afghanistan -- Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Under intense US lobbying, the Emirates shut the Afghan Embassy in Dubai on Saturday, and announced it was severing diplomatic relations with the Taliban.
Pakistan withdrew its last diplomats from Kabul, the Afghan capital, over the weekend. The Pakistan government has said it will keep relations with Afghanistan, however, describing the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad as the world's ``window'' for the Taliban.
Pakistan reaffirmed yesterday that it would keep that link with the Taliban. "We are maintaining diplomatic ties. Their embassy is still open," Foreign Ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan said.
Pakistan has agreed to support the US military campaign against bin Laden and his Taliban allies, and the weekend removal of diplomats appeared to reflect concerns over their safety if the US launches air strikes.
Yesterday's move by Mideast power Saudi Arabia marks a major step forward for the US in its effort to put pressure on and isolate the Taliban, which have refused to hand over bin Laden absent proof of his guilt in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Taliban officials claimed Monday they have been unable to locate bin Laden. They said they have been trying to find him to deliver a message from a grand Islamic council asking him to leave the country voluntarily.
Son of a prominent Saudi businessman, bin Laden saw his Saudi citizenship stripped away for his relentless criticism of Riyadh's ties with Washington. Bin Laden objects strongly to the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia -- home to Islam's holiest sites -- from the Gulf War onward.
Bin Laden sought refuge in exile first in Sudan, and then later in Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia cut back diplomatic ties with the Taliban in 1998, expelling the Afghan charge d'affaires in Riyadh and recalling its representative from Kabul. The Afghan charge d'affaires in Riyadh said at the time that the Saudi move came because his country was harboring bin Laden.
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