US wants more from Saudis in fight against extremists
The US battle against the self-described Islamic State is being complicated by concerns that Saudi Arabia has helped support extremist Sunni elements — both spiritually and financially — even as the Saudis call themselves friends and allies of the United States.
Saudi Arabia is led by a Sunni monarchy, the same branch of Islam whose extremist elements make up the violent Islamic State. Counterterrorism experts in the US worry Saudi Arabia is not exerting enough influence to undermine the group’s terrorist acts, including the recent beheadings of two American journalists.
“The Muslim leadership in Saudi Arabia would rather spend their time writing [religious edicts] on the color of women’s fingernail polish” and has failed to deal with the crisis “inside of their religion,” said James B. Smith, the American ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2009 to 2013.
Nearly 13 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — with the reach of terrorist groups who adhere to the most violent forms of Sunni Islam as unchecked as ever — such concerns underscore a major shortcoming in the global effort to fight terrorism, current and former counterterrorism officials and diplomats say.