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 He apologized to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates last weekend
for having said U.S. allies in the region were partly to blame for
the rise of the Islamic State group in Syria. He made the statements
in a question-and-answer session with students at Harvard
University.
"Vice President Biden spoke today with Saudi Arabia’s Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Prince Saud al-Faisal," Biden's office said in a
statement.
"The vice president thanked the foreign minister for Saudi Arabia’s
strong support in the shared fight against ISIL and he clarified his
recent remarks regarding the early stages of the conflict in Syria.
The two agreed that the issue was closed."
ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) is the acronym used by
the United States for Islamic State.
Biden had said U.S. allies in the region, many now participating in
a coalition to fight Islamic State, had poured millions of dollars
into Syrian groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad, which
strengthened the Islamist factions there.
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White House spokesman Josh Earnest strongly defended Biden on Monday
as a core member of Obama's foreign policy team.
"The vice president is somebody who has enough character to admit
when he's made a mistake," said Earnest.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by David Storey and Andre
Grenon)
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