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Saudi Arabia Cuts Ties With Taliban

By Mohamad Bazzi | Staff Correspondent

Quetta, Pakistan The Taliban faced almost total diplomatic isolation yesterday when Saudi Arabia severed relations with the hard-line Islamic movement that rules most of Afghanistan.

That leaves Pakistan as the only country with formal ties to the Taliban, which is sheltering Saudi militant Osama bin Laden. Pakistan last week withdrew its diplomatic representatives from the Afghan capital of Kabul, citing safety concerns. Pakistan's foreign minister yesterday said his government does not plan to formally sever relations with the Taliban.

Saudi Arabia's move came three days after the only other nation that recognized the Taliban, the United Arab Emirates, cut off ties with the movement because it failed to surrender bin Laden, who has been named by the United States as the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and New York. The Saudi government accused the Taliban of providing a haven to terrorists who carry out attacks "defaming Islam and defaming Muslims' reputation in the world.

Analysts say the Saudi decision will make Pakistan an even more critical player in the conflict between the Taliban and Washington, which has threatened to attack the Islamic movement if it does not turn over bin Laden and his allies.

"The Taliban was already the most isolated regime in the world, said Mohammad Wassem, a political science professor at Quad-I-Azam University in Islamabad. "Now, the Taliban is going to be totally dependent on Pakistan in its dealings with the outside world.

As diplomatic pressure intensified on the Taliban, United Nations officials warned that a humanitarian crisis could engulf Afghanistan if the U.S. attacks. Relief officials say up to 1.5 million Afghans could flee to neighboring Pakistan, causing tremendous strain on a country that already houses 2 million Afghan refugees.

That tension is most evident here in Quetta, a dusty city ringed by harsh, dry mountains about 75 miles from the border with Afghanistan. A third of the city's 1.2 million residents are Afghan refugees, and the majority of the Pakistanis here are Pashtuns, the predominant ethnic group in the Taliban movement.

"This area is already full of refugees, and people are going to resist a new influx, said Mansour Kundi, a political science professor at Baluchistan University here in Quetta. "There will be concerns about security and overtaxing scarce resources like water and energy.

In a sign of rising tensions, UN officials and local authorities in the Baluchistan province have not been able to agree on a plan to open a refugee camp for 10,000 to 20,000 Afghans gathered near the Chaman border crossing. UN officials say the refugees most of them women, children and the elderly -- are living out in the open, under a harsh sun by day and frigid conditions by night.

Relief officials have received reports of outbreaks of diarrhea and other illnesses among the refugees. Two women gave birth at the border last week and were taken to a Pakistani hospital, but were then sent back to the no-man's-land several hours later, according to UN officials.

"We have a very large group of people out in the open, facing the heat and cold with no shelter, said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "We can't just sit there and watch people die at the border.

He said the agency has not received permission from Pakistani authorities to screen refugees at the border and send them to a camp near Chaman. The camp is equipped with 2,000 tents, 6,000 blankets and 5,000 kitchen sets.

Colville said the situation has been complicated by the involvement of many Pakistani agencies, including the provincial government, local police, the border guard, the army and the national government in Islamabad.

"This is probably the most tense border in the world right now, he said. "It's a very complex problem for the Pakistani authorities. There are a lot of agencies involved and they have national security issues to deal with.

Even before the current standoff between the Taliban and Washington, a UN report issued last month said that about 6 million Afghans were suffering severe hardship, with famine conditions in some parts of the country. The report said Afghanistan faced a "humanitarian disaster of enormous proportions.

In addition to the refugees waiting at the border, another 1 million Afghans are believed to have fled from cities to the countryside in the past two weeks, promoting fears of food shortages.

Hours after Saudi Arabia announced its decision to cut ties with the Taliban, Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said his government would maintain relations with the movement through its virtually empty embassy in Islamabad. The Taliban was nurtured and had been militarily supported by the Pakistani government until the current crisis erupted, forcing Pakistan to line up behind Washington.

While Pakistan is willing to cooperate with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, Sattar warned foreign governments against giving military and financial aid to the Taliban's opponents.

"We must not make the blunder of trying to foist a government on the people of Afghanistan, he said. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, has promised full support for the United States in its conflict with the Taliban, but he has also hinted at limits to Pakistan's cooperation because he faces opposition from militant Islamic groups at home.

The Taliban have ruled most of Afghanistan since 1996, and now control about 90 percent of the country.

Pakistan immediately recognized their government's legitimacy. In 1997, the UAE followed its neighbor Saudi Arabia in establishing diplomatic relations with the Taliban. Almost all other countries recognize the government-in-exile of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, whose Northern Alliance forces control northern Afghanistan, near the Tajik border.