U.S. troop pullout mutually agreed says Saudi envoy

In a rare public statement by a Saudi ambassador, the Kingdom's envoy to London, Prince Turki Al Faisal said ending the American military pre-sence in Saudi Arabia was mutually agreed with the United States government.

Replying to a leading article entitled 'Sands of Time' published in The Times on April 30, the new Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom said in a letter printed yesterday that the original arrangement between his country and the U.S. for the stationing American troops "was always temporary."

Therefore, Prince Turki Al Faisal said, the U.S. troops are leaving by mutual agreement since the reason for their deployment there is no longer valid. "The troops were there not to protect Saudi Arabia against Iraq (as the paper suggested) but to monitor the no-fly zones after the Gulf War," the ambassador said.

"It was always clearly understood that, once this obligation had ended, the troops would go," Prince Turki added. The Saudi diplomat who, was his country's head of intelligence until his appointment to St. James's Court late last year, denied that the pullout of American troops was an indication of worsening relations between the two countries.

He said: "Their departure in no way sours the longstanding relationship that exists between the Kingdom and the U.S., which dates back more than half a century."

The ambassador explained that it was because of this friendship that Saudi Arabia in the first place "allowed the stationing of the U.S. military personnel in our country."

Prince Turki criticised the paper for calling on the U.S. administration to no longer maintain a friendship with the Kingdom which, according to the article "flouts American values." He said Saudi and the U.S. have many shared goals and shared values.

"One very important one is our absolute and total commitment to peace in the region and particularly towards the Palestinians."

He defended the Islamic values which have united the Kingdom "and continue to govern its actions."

But nevertheless Prince Turki declared that the Saudi systems "are undergoing change and continued development, public debate has been broadened and is welcomed in the Kingdom within the Majlis system and within the Shura Council."