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| King Salman bin Abdull aziz of Saudi Arabia (Image: Wiki Commons) |
As the country battles a resurgent Taliban, without the assistance of foreign combat troops, one country appears to hold the key to whether Afghanistan can cling to democracy or succumb to the Taliban, that country being Saudi Arabia.
According to a New York Times report, Saudi Arabia is backing both sides. It has reportedly backed Islamabad's promotion of the Taliban and wealthy Saudis are also said to have privately funded the insurgents.
Officially however, Saudi Arabia has supported the U.S mission and the Afghan government, the article stated.
The contradictions are hardly accidental. Rather, they balance conflicting needs within the kingdom, pursued through both official policy and private initiative, the New York Times reported.
The dual tracks allow Saudi officials plausibly to deny official support for the Taliban, even as they have turned a blind eye to private funding of the Taliban and other hard-line Sunni groups, the article stated.
The result is that the Saudis — through private or covert channels — have tacitly supported the Taliban in ways that make the kingdom an indispensable power broker, the story read.
A former Taliban finance minister Agha Jan Motasim told The New York Times that he had traveled to Saudi Arabia for years raising cash, while ostensibly being on pilgrimage.
In addition, the report stated that the Taliban has raised millions by pressurizing hundreds of thousands of Afghan workers in the kingdom to pay "taxes", a former State Department adviser, Vali Nasr, told the newspaper.
The New York Times stated that playing multiple sides is one way the Saudis have been able to further their own strategic interests.
Read the full story at TOLOnews