Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in the coastal Saudi city of Jeddah on Tuesday, beginning a trip that will see him seek Saudi help in mediating talks with the Taliban, DPA reported.
The president will first make the Umrah, or "minor" pilgrimage to Mecca before meeting Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz to discuss "Kabul's efforts for reconciliation with all factions, including the Taliban," Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omar said Tuesday.
Karzai earlier called on Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to play a role in peace talks with Taliban militants, who have waged a bloody war against his government and more than 110,000 NATO-led troops stationed in the country.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were the first foreign patrons that helped form the Taliban movement in 1990s, and recognized its ultra-conservative Islamist regime in Kabul while the rest of the world condemned the enforcement of strict Islamic rules, including a ban on women working or studying outside their homes.
Under a new peace scheme, endorsed by some 70 countries at a London conference on Afghanistan last week, the government would provide protection, jobs and vocational training for Taliban fighters in return for their renunciation of violence.
Karzai on Sunday said he hoped King Abdullah would "play a prominent role to guide and assess the peace progress."
After the Taliban rejected the government's new calls for peace and vowed to continue their war until the complete withdrawal of all foreign forces, Karzai said his offer applied only to those who were not linked to al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups.
US and NATO forces would stay in his country until the "terrorists" and "extremists" were defeated, Karzai said.
Karzai is scheduled to travel to Germany on Thursday, to attend the Munich Conference on Security Policy. The three-day conference has devoted its last day to discussion of Afghanistan.
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