Text of Saudi announcement severing ties with Afghanistan's Taliban

Text of Saudi kingdom's announcement it has severed ties with Afghanistan's Taliban regime, released by official Saudi news agency. Message opens with a reference to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s:

"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia stood with all of its ability beside the Afghani people while they were struggling for their independence, which gave Afghanistan a special status in the hearts of those who champion nations' rights of freedom and independence, until Afghanistan regained its independence.

"It is unfortunate to see that the Taliban have used that special status for Afghanistan not for building the ties of brotherhood and for building and development and enforcing the lofty aims which Islam represents, but has made its land a center for attracting, training and recruiting a number of gullible men from different lands, especially citizens of the kingdom, in order to carry out criminal acts that violate all faiths and creeds, besides continuing to reject handing over those criminals to justice.

In spite of what happened and what is happening, the Taliban government is still continuing to use its land to harbor, arm and encourage those criminals in carrying out terrorist attacks which horrify those who live in peace and the innocent and spread terror and destruction in the world. (It) leads to defaming Islam and defaming Muslims' reputation in the world.

Since the Taliban have ignored all of the contacts and the attempts by the kingdom to persaude them to stop harboring criminals and terrorists and training them and inciting them and making its land a refuge and haven for them, (since) it did not respond to all exerted efforts and attempts in that concern, the last of which is the Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's call to the Taliban government, the government of the kingdom announces it is cutting all of its relations with the Taliban government, while affirming that it will keep standing by the Afghan people and will continue its support for everything that will achieve security, stability and prosperity for Afghanistan."