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Khalilzad to Saudis: Be 'More Active' for Peace
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on Monday stressed the importance of Saudi Arabia's help in bringing peace to the Middle East, a day after he accused the kingdom of undermining U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq. Zalmay Khalilzad attempted to play down the critical remark he made Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition," telling reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that Saudi Arabia is "a great ally" and friend of the United States. Still, he urged Saudi leaders to do more to help end Iraq's sectarian violence. "In terms of Iraq, we would benefit, the Iraqis would benefit, the region would benefit from a more enhanced Saudi cooperation toward stabilizing the situation," he said.
Story Continues Below Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, called on Saudi Arabia to become more active in encouraging reconciliation and engaging with various political forces in Iraq, as well as providing debt relief to the country. "There have been some promises made to move forward with regard to those (issues)," he said. The Saudi mission to the U.N. did not immediately return a call seeking comment. U.S. officials have recently stepped up public criticism of Saudi Arabia but remain cautious in dealing with a crucial ally in the region. Khalilzad wrote in an opinion column for The New York Times this month that U.S. allies in the region were pursuing destabilizing policies toward Iraq. On Sunday, he said that referred in part to Saudi Arabia. "Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries are not doing all they can to help us in Iraq," he said on "Late Edition." "At times, some of them are not only not helping, but they are doing things that is undermining the effort to make progress." Iraqi officials have accused the Sunni-ruled Saudi kingdom of allowing a flow of funding to support Sunni insurgents and failing to prevent would-be suicide bombers from crossing the Saudi border to infiltrate Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates plan to ask Saudi King Abdullah for greater cooperation in Iraq during a visit to the Middle East this week. Rice said Monday that a proposed U.S. military sales package for Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states, estimated to be at least $5 billion and as high as $20 billion, would help secure Iraq and promote stability in the region by countering Syria, Iran, al-Qaida and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
© 2007 Associated Press.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Iraq
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