PRINCE TURKI RAISES POTUS VISIT AND CONCERN ABOUT

S E C R E T USUN NEW YORK 001216 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/26/2017 TAGS: PREL PTER UNSC IZ AF PK SA SUBJECT: PRINCE TURKI RAISES POTUS VISIT AND CONCERN ABOUT IRAQI TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY Classified By: Ambassador Zalmay M. Khalilzad, per 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S) Ambassador Khalilzad met Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, former Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. and current head of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, on December 26 in New York. Al-Faisal underscored that Secretary Rice should accompany President Bush on his SIPDIS upcoming visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA),as the Secretary has developed a good rapport with King Abdallah, SIPDIS and she is seen in the region as the public face of increased U.S. engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. As for the agenda for the U.S.-Saudi talks, al-Faisal suggested the two sides could discuss how to re-energize the search for Osama bin Laden. Noting that Saudi Arabia understands the area between Afghanistan and Pakistan well, al-Faisal suggested that the USG and KSA could cooperate in this effort. He also said the KSA could play a positive role in encouraging better Afghan-Pakistani relations, but it is unsure if the U.S. would welcome more active Saudi diplomacy in this regard. ¶2. (S) Turning to Iraq, al-Faisal urged that the U.S. find ways to explicitly guarantee Iraq's territorial integrity in a UNSC resolution. He argued that such a guarantee would help assuage Sunni Arab fears about efforts to partition Iraq and would enable Arab and Muslim countries to increase their support for Iraq's reconstruction. (Note: UNSCR 1790 includes preambular language that reaffirms Iraq's territorial integrity. USUN will explore other options to reinforce this point in future UNSC actions on Iraq. End Note.) Al-Faisal also spoke at length about the need to ensure that the Shi'a clerical establishment in Najaf does not become dominated by Iran. He argued that after Saddam Hussein exiled or assassinated several clerics from Najaf, Iranian clerics from Qum had come to Iraq to fill those empty slots. Although he agreed the U.S. could not play a role in reversing this phenomenon, al-Faisal said it was important to ensure that Najaf retains a character separate from Qum. Khalilzad