RIYADH, Oct 31: British Prime Minister Tony Blair said here on Wednesday he had reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia to work for a broad-based government in a reconstructed Afghanistan.

Blair was speaking after he met King Fahd straight after arriving in Riyadh on the second day of a hectic round of shuttle diplomacy aimed at shoring up the international war coalition.

While Riyadh strongly condemned the Sept 11 strikes in the United States and has backed the US airstrikes on Afghanistan, the monarchy has made it clear to Washington that it will not allow its airbases to be used for the bombing of Afghanistan and the Taliban.

The British prime minister had been braced for a grilling from the rulers of Saudi Arabia on the airstrikes and the situation in the Middle East and Palestinian territories.

If the grilling was delivered, Blair, who has assumed the burden of chief international advocate for the US-led airstrikes, did not show it.

He described his talks with King Fahd as “very interesting”.

Blair said at a press conference: “I have had discussions about the need to make sure that in reconstructing Afghanistan we have as broad-based a government as possible, and we agreed to make sure that in the future there is a government for Afghanistan that includes all the main groups.”

“They (the Saudis) are very much part of the international coalition against terrorism,” Blair stressed, adding that strong political and economic links existed between Saudi Arabia and Britain.

On the tensions in the Middle East, the prime minister said: “It’s vital that we restart the peace process on the basis that there is security for Israel, and justice and equality of treatment for the Palestinians.”

Asked if the US-led coalition had asked Saudi Arabia for extra military help, Blair said the Saudis had “responded to every request made to them. We are grateful for that”.

The British premier flew into Riyadh from a ground-breaking visit to Damascus, where he and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had earlier in the day publicly clashed on the meaning of terrorism and the war in Afghanistan.

Blair said the military campaign in Afghanistan was carefully targeted.

“People understand that, when so many thousands of people are slaughtered in cold blood in the way they were, we have to bring to account those responsible,” he said.

“People want us to do everything we can to minimize civilian casualties in the action we take. And we do.”

Saudi officials say they back the global fight against “terrorism”, but want the air strikes against Afghanistan concluded swiftly.

Blair had intended to visit Riyadh in a high-profile trip earlier in October, but did not do so then because of sensitivities over the bombing of Afghanistan which had just begun.

Saudi Arabia is particularly sensitive to military action against a fellow Muslim state.

It is also vulnerable to anti-American sentiment stemming from a continued US military presence on its soil.

“We have agreed that we should work together closely in order to make sure that in the future for Afghanistan there is a government which is as broad-based as possible, that includes all the main groupings,” Blair said.

NEW DRIVE FOR PEACE: Saudi sources said this week officials would try to drive home to Blair the message that until a solution is found to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Middle East will continue to be a breeding-ground for so-called terrorism.