Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic mission in Afghanistan is an essential step in its efforts to “whiten its face” and restore its reputation in the West, particularly the United States, which has not forgotten that the majority of the September 11, 2001, hijackers were Saudi citizens, and that the government failed to manage the Taliban during the years leading up to those attacks. The subsequent fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan as a result of the US-led invasion embarrassed the Saudi regime, because it had recognized the Taliban government in 1997 and supported it ideologically and financially.