KABUL, Jan 15: Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief has met top officials in Afghanistan, the government has said, likely as part of a behind-the-scenes effort to smooth hostilities between the Afghan government and militants seeking to overthrow it.

Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other government leaders during his Wednesday trip to the Afghan capital, a statement said. He also met opposition leader Burhanuddin Rabbani and other prominent Afghans who fought against Soviet occupation but are now involved in the political process.

Muqrin was sent to Kabul by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, the statement said, without disclosing the content of the talks.

As the security situation in Afghanistan deteriorates, Saudi Arabia has been attempting to play a low-profile, inconspicuous role in trying to bridge the differences between Karzai’s government and some members of the insurgency.

Last September, some Taliban members met Afghan and Pakistani personalities during a dinner hosted by the Saudi king, but there were no visible results from the meeting.

Karzai has called many times on the Taliban leadership to give up its fight and join the political process, and has urged the Saudi monarch to help facilitate peace talks with insurgents. The Taliban have said no talks can take place while foreign troops are in Afghanistan.

The deteriorating situation in Afghanistan has forced the US to rush as many as 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, seeking to the turn the tide in fighting that has seen Al Qaeda-linked militants and the Taliban make a comeback after initial defeats in the US-led invasion in 2001.

Some 32,000 US troops already in Afghanistan serve alongside 32,000 other Nato-led and coalition troops, the highest number since the US-led invasion. US Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who toured the region this week, said that “things are going to get tougher in Afghanistan before they’re going to get better”. —AP