Saudis Expel Afghan Official, Cite ‘National Interests’
The Saudi government expelled the Afghan charge d’affaires Tuesday and recalled its representative from Kabul, the official news agency reported.
The Afghan envoy was ordered to leave “due to Saudi Arabia’s national interests,” the Saudi Press Agency said.
Saudi Arabia is one of three countries that has recognized the Taliban religious militia as the legitimate government in war-racked Afghanistan. The others are Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
The Taliban was condemned internationally after admitting Sept. 10 that its forces had killed eight Iranian diplomats and an Iranian journalist after capturing the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Since then, the Iranian military has been put on alert and more than 200,000 soldiers have been deployed on Iran’s border with Afghanistan.
The Taliban says it has sent as many as 10,000 fresh troops to the border.
Western diplomats in Riyadh say the Saudi chief of intelligence, Prince Turki al Faisal, visited Afghanistan last week with the aim of trying to reduce tensions between the Taliban and Iran.
Iran is accused of backing the opposition to the Taliban.
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