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Karzai
on the move, flies Ariana to Saudi for funds
KABUL/RIYADh, JANUARY 18: Aboard
the first official Ariana airlines flight in two years, interim
Afghan leader Hamid Karzai arrived on Friday in Saudi Arabia,
the first leg of an overseas tour to drum up aid for his war-torn
land.
Karzai is due to travel to Riyadh on Saturday
to meet King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah. He is expected
to leave on the same day for Tokyo to attend a conference
of donor countries.
Afghan officials have said Karzai will discuss
the role of oil-rich Saudi Arabia in the project to rebuild
Afghanistan. The kingdom will co-chair the Tokyo donor’s meeting
along with Japan, the United States and the European Union.
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Red Cross
in Cuba
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| MIAMI: Red Cross monitors hope
to interview each Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoner sent from
Afghanistan to the US Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
to ensure they are being treated humanely, an agency official
said on Friday. A four-person team from the ICRC arrived
at the isolated base on the eastern tip of Cuba late on
Thursday to inspect the prison camp. ( Reuters) |
Saudi Arabia has been a key player in Afghanistan’s
23 years of war, first backing Islamic rebels battling Soviet
occupation forces in the 1980s and then supporting the Taliban
from 1996.
Karzai, in picking Saudi Arabia for his
first trip abroad, is signalling his readiness to make a new
start with one of only three states that recognised the former
Taliban government, analysts said.
After the Tokyo conference, Karzai will
stop in China on the final leg of tour before returning home.
He will barely have time to catch his breath and welcome UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan on January 23 before setting
off again, to meet President Bush in Washington on January
28 and then to the World Economic Forum in New York. (Reuters)
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