A senior US official in charge of combatting terrorist financing praised Saudi Arabia for its progress in blocking the flow of funds to groups such as al-Qaeda and said he wished other countries in the Persian Gulf would meet the same standard.
"We have a very willing and capable partner in Saudi Arabia," Daniel Glaser, the assistant secretary for terrorist financing in the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, told an audience at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Oct. 13. "Our goal is to see a similar evolution in Qatar and Kuwait," which he said had made some progress but not to the same extent as the Saudi government over the past decade.