Small Wars Journal

Saudi Arabia Backs Cease-fire in Afghanistan, Suggesting New Role in Quest for Peace

Fri, 06/22/2018 - 12:19am

Saudi Arabia Backs Cease-fire in Afghanistan, Suggesting New Role in Quest for Peace by Missy Ryan – Washington Post

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia threw its weight behind the Afghan government’s attempts to kindle a peace process with the Taliban this week, reflecting growing international pressure to bring Afghanistan’s long war to a negotiated end.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Saudi government said King Salman supported Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s recent cease fire with the Taliban, the militant group that has continued to pose an existential threat to the Afghan state despite 17 years of international military involvement.

The king said “that the brotherly Afghan people, who suffered a great deal from the war, aspire, along with the rest of the Muslim world, to close the previous chapter and open a new page based on tolerance, reconciliation, rejecting violence… and mending fences between brothers.”

He also called for the extension of a truce with the Taliban…

Read on.