Taj Mahal skipped: Obama cuts short India visit to meet new Saudi king
White House press secretary says the president regrets that he will be unable to visit Agra during this trip. PHOTO: REUTERS
US President Barack Obama has cut short his visit to India, cancelling a planned trip to the Taj Mahal, to “pay respects” to new King Salman in Saudi Arabia, the White House said Saturday.
Obama was scheduled to go to India’s famed monument to love accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama at the end of a three-day visit to the country, during which he is to be chief guest at Monday’s Republic Day celebrations.
Instead, the White House said Obama would travel to Riyadh from New Delhi on Tuesday morning to meet the new monarch Salman after the death of his half-brother King Abdullah on Friday.
“The president regrets that he will be unable to visit Agra during this trip,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest in a statement. Abdullah, a cautious reformer who led the Gulf state through a turbulent decade in a region shaken by the Arab Spring uprisings and Islamic extremism, died aged about 90.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2015.