(MENAFN- Saudi Press Agency) The Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said that those that accuse the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of supporting violent extremism and terrorism not only fail to acknowledge the Kingdom's leadership in combating terrorism and extremism around the world, but they also do not see that it is illogical and irrational for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be anything less than at the forefront of nations combating this scourge. He said in his article published in US Newsweek Magazine, '' Multiple actors - each with their own motives - have targeted the Kingdom, seeking to destabilize the country and terrorize the Saudi people. So it is in our national interest to defeat terrorism - and a national priority. Whether non-state actors like Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), or state-sponsored terror from Iran and its proxies, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has, as much as any other country, a national security incentive to stop the men, the money and the mindset that foments terrorism and violent extremism. Some try to malign the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by reciting that "15 of the 19" 9/11 hijackers were Saudis. They should know that the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khaled Sheikh Muhammed, told U.S. interrogators that the initial plan was to have 20 hijackers from different nationalities, but late in the planning, Osama bin Laden directed him to replace as many Saudis on the team as possible to give the attack a Saudi face. This was likely designed to drive a wedge between the Kingdom and the U.S. If this was Osama bin Laden's plan, it almost succeeded, as we saw from the wave of criticism the Kingdom experienced after 9/11.
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