US hails Kuwait's efforts to tackle terrorism, terror financing

20/09/2018

WASHINGTON-- The US praised the Kuwaiti government for its efforts to combat terrorism and encourage moderation.

This includes Kuwait's implementation of United Nations Security Council sanctions on both the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda groups, and joining initiatives to combat the financing of terror, the State Department said in its Country Report Terrorism.

Kuwait is a member of both the Egmont Group and the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), a joint US-Gulf Cooperation Council initiative announced during President Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in 2017.

The TFTC, agreed in October, put in place 13 designations of individuals and entities affiliated with IS and Al-Qaeda.

Kuwait also signed a counterterrorism information-sharing agreement with the US during strategic dialogue talks held in Washington last year, and has been active in fostering moderation and addressing violent extremism, the report added.

It went on to reveal "continued efforts by ISIS to target Kuwait." The report commended Kuwait's hosting of a pledging conference for reconstruction efforts in Iraq following Baghdad's defeat of IS in late 2017 alongside several global anti-IS meetings.

Additionally, Kuwait's mediation role in the GCC dispute between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, on the one side, and Qatar, on the other, was also hailed.