WINEP: "Saudi Arabia remains a major source of financing for terrorist groups...who kill American soldiers"

WINEP, here

"... The Saudis however, did not bring that same aggressiveness to their efforts to combat terrorist financing, particularly when it came to money exiting the kingdom for terrorist groups abroad.

Although many U.S. government officials began to laud Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism efforts publicly in the years after the Riyadh attack, Treasury officials continued to heavily criticize Riyadh's handling of terrorist-financing-related issues. In a widely quoted September 11, 2007, appearance on ABC, Treasury undersecretary Stuart Levey stated: "If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country [for terrorism], it would be Saudi Arabia." Levey also criticized the Saudis for failing to prosecute terrorist financiers and called on Saudi officials to treat the financing of terrorism as real terrorism. ....
The first sign that Saudi Arabia finally may have understood the importance of combating terrorist financing was in late 2007, when Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Asheikh -- the most senior Wahhabi cleric in the kingdom -- released a rather surprising religious edict. In his fatwa, al-Asheikh addressed potential donors to terrorism for the first time, urging them "to be careful about where [their money is] spent so it does not damage young Muslims." After years of refusing to acknowledge that Saudi Arabia is a source of terrorist financing, or that Saudi counterterrorism efforts were inadequate, this statement proved to be a major step forward. ..
Despite its improved efforts, Saudi Arabia remains a major source of financing for terrorist groups, largely from private donors. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, has repeatedly and publicly expressed his frustration about the funding emanating from the Gulf -- specifically Saudi Arabia -- for the Taliban. Holbrooke stated that "while in the past, there was a feeling that the money all came from drugs in Afghanistan. That is simply not true . . . [the Taliban] get a lot more money out of the Gulf, according to our intelligence sources." Given estimates that the Taliban raises hundreds of millions annually through the drug trade, Holbrooke's concern raises alarms about the volume of money coming from the Gulf.
LET (Lashkar-e-Taiba), the group accused of executing the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, also continues to operate in Saudi Arabia. Muhammad Omar Madni, head of LET's Nepal operations and a close associate of the group's chief, was recently arrested by Indian authorities. Reports indicate that Madni recently traveled to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region to raise funds for LET and to build its logistical networks throughout the region. LET's ties to the kingdom also emerged during the Indian government's investigation into the 2006 bombing of a Mumbai commuter train. ..."