US cables: Saudi 'critical' finance base for Qaeda, Taliban

First Published: 2010-12-05

Leaked US diplomatic cables accuse Arab Gulf states of militant fundraising.

Middle East Online

By Paul Handley - RIYADH

New embarrassment for US 'diplomacy' Saudi Arabia is the key source of funding for radical groups including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hamas, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Sunday. Other Gulf states are also important to militant fundraising, the documents say, which brand Gulf states Qatar and Kuwait as notably lax in pursuing locals who donate to the groups. And Saudi Arabia is particularly challenged by policing money transfers during the hajj and umrah pilgrimages, with militants sending agents into the oil-rich kingdom under the cover of pious Muslim pilgrims, they say. "Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide," said the document, an assessment from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dated December 30, 2009. "Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), and other terrorist groups, including Hamas, which probably raise millions of dollars annually from Saudi sources, often during Hajj and Ramadan," the cable said. There was no accusation of official Saudi government support of militants. The memo credited the Saudis with "significant progress" under US pressure to deal with the issue, especially disrupting Al-Qaeda's finance channels. However, it added, "Riyadh has taken only limited action" to interrupt the flow of money to Taliban and LeT-associated groups which have launched attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It said other Gulf states also remain important sources of financing for Islamist militants, singling out Qatar as "the worst in the region" in its cooperation with Washington. Qatar's approach on militant financing is "largely passive," and its security services "have been hesitant to act against known terrorists" because they fear being seen too close to the United States, it said. The same document said Kuwait has been "less inclined to take action" on local financiers and facilitators plotting attacks outside the country. Documents released by WikiLeaks on Sunday and earlier showed the strong push Washington has made on Gulf allies to crack down on money going to the Taliban and LeT in addition to Al-Qaeda. They revealed that Washington thinks private donations from the Gulf are the main source of Taliban funds, and not the narcotics trade. But the documents suggest that Gulf governments had not paid much attention to the Taliban issue, and were heavily dependent on US intelligence. The documents depict US officials handing over data on suspected Taliban fund-raisers to Gulf counterparts, who were not aware of the names provided. The Saudi interior ministry "remains almost completely dependent on the CIA to provide analytic support and direction for its counterterrorism operations," said a February cable from the US embassy in Riyadh. "As such, our success against terrorist financing in the kingdom remains directly tied to our ability to provide actionable intelligence to our Saudi counterparts." But US documents praised the Saudis for their cooperation, including arresting "more than 40 individuals" from the Al-Haramain Foundation, a sprawling charity Washington has alleged supports Al-Qaeda. In the past two years Riyadh has passed a law and issued an official fatwa, or religious edict, against donating to designated terror groups. But speaking about militant financing, Saudi officials themselves admit that the annual hajj pilgrimage is "a vacuum in our security," one 2009 document noted. Likewise, the Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Saturday, citing Saudi security sources, that militants recently arrested in Saudi Arabia had used the cover of raising funds for flood relief in Pakistan in recent months to get money for Al-Qaeda.