KABUL — The Afghan government’s newly formed peace council wants Saudi Arabia to play a key role in efforts to reconcile with the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war. Qiyamuddin Kashaaf, spokesman for the 70-member High Peace Council, said Thursday that Saudi Arabia would be a good place to hold any formal peace talks that develop from exploratory discussions the Afghan government is having with some high-ranking members of the Taliban. He says that if peace negotiations in Afghanistan are not successful, Saudi King Abdullah should intervene and take a leadership role in fostering talks. Saudi Arabia once had close ties to the Taliban government that emerged victorious from…
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A bomb ripped through a passenger bus on Thursday in the southern Philippines, killing at least eight people and wounding 6 in an attack authorities blamed on an extortion gang with links to Muslim militants. The bus was travelling with more than 50 passengers…
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RIYADH (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks with King Abdullah expected to focus on tension in Lebanon over a U.N.-backed tribunal and the political void in Iraq. The Saudi state news agency SPA gave no details about the talks after Assad began his second trip to the world’s top oil exporting country this year, the latest sign of a thaw in bilateral relations. The meeting comes a few days after a state visit to Lebanon by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, whose disputed atomic energy programme Riyadh fears…
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