White House praises Afghan, Saudi governments for cooperation in probe of Afghan minister's death

WASHINGTON -- The White House denounced the killing of Afghanistan's aviation minister and praised the interim government for reaching out to Saudi Arabia for help in rounding up suspects.

President Bush's chief adviser on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said later that the Saudis had agreed to turn over the three prime suspects, all senior Afghan government officials.

Bush deplored the death during a mob attack of aviation and tourism minister Abdul Rahman, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. The White House, he said, found it encouraging that Prime Minister Hamid Karzai sought and received cooperation so quickly from Saudi officials.

"That's a good sign between those two nations," Fleischer said. "Afghanistan ... will not emerge overnight as a nation of peace. What you see is a young government reaching out to Saudi Arabia, and two governments working together to fight the people who are responsible for this."

Karzai said Friday that six senior government officials, motivated by a long-standing feud, were behind the attack on Rahman. Three have been arrested, and the others were being sought in Saudi Arabia.

Rahman was killed Thursday as a mob attacked his plane at Kabul's airport. Authorities said the attackers were pilgrims angry over delays in their travel to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. Witnesses and officials said Rahman was beaten to death and his body tossed onto the tarmac.

A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. officials have been told the riot broke out spontaneously after the crowd, delayed for two days while awaiting documents from Saudi Arabia, learned that Rahman was leaving on a scheduled flight.

The minister was stabbed, probably by someone with political motives, the official said.

In a radio interview Friday night, Bush adviser Khalilzad said Saudi Arabia agreed to turn over the three suspects.

"Mister Karzai has asked the Saudis for the return of those people immediately," Khalilzad said in an interview on PBS' "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." "And the Saudis have agreed to do so."

Khalilzad praised the interim government for acting swiftly to counter continuing internal power struggles after years of warlord rivalry.

"The interim authority moved very rapidly to come to a judgment, and that rather than any one of the factions or groups giving protection to these people, they're going to face justice," Khalilzad said.

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