Washington - Arab Today
The Kingdom has taken a series of major steps in confronting terrorism, Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, told a press conference following the release of 28 pages of the US Congress report that exonerated the KSA of 9/11 attacks.
"We have put financial control mechanisms unmatched in any other country; we have closed institutions used to collect donations to support extremism; laws have been enacted to criminalize the financing of terrorism; a number of persons have been tried; many of those involved in supporting terror have been imprisoned; we have put the best systems to follow up the transfer of cash,” he said.
He added: “Saudi Arabia is today at the forefront in fighting terror. We have fought Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom, and are fighting them in Yemen. We are fighting Daesh in Syria, and we are working with our allies topped by the US and others in the pursuit of terrorists and their backers.
He explained: The Kingdom has mobilized international efforts against the scourge of terrorism. It was one of the first countries in the implementation of a national awareness campaign against terrorism and extremism. We hosted the first international counter terrorism conference in Riyadh in 2005, attended by more than 50 countries. The same year, the Kingdom called for the establishment of an international center at the UN to combat terrorism. We financed that center later with $110 million to strengthen the UN ability to fight terror.”
He said the Kingdom has recently formed the Islamic Alliance of 40 countries to fight terrorism and the ideology that stands behind it
He pointed out: "The Kingdom is a victim of terrorism, and Osama bin Laden's objective in attacking the US was to weaken the Saudi-US ties and he thought it would weaken the Kingdom so that it becomes more susceptible to fall in the hands of terrorists and extremists. Their goal was not achieved, and the Kingdom is committed to using all its resources to pursue terrorists and work with other nations to do so. Terrorism has no religion, nationality, race or humanity and we must all do everything in our power to defeat it".
He said the Kingdom has suffered greatly from terrorists many times. “Many security officials have scarified their lives in defense of their people; many citizens have been killed; we have taken very strong measures against terrorists and extremists; the Kingdom was in the range of terrorist organizations after 9/11 who attacked the Kingdom before and after Sept. 11 strikes; we were able to defeat Al-Qaeda; and we are fighting Daesh which aims to control the holy cities.”
Source: Arab News