Bahrain committed to remain part of ‘global battle against terrorism’

Ambassador of the Kingdom to the United States of America, Shaikh Abdullah bin Rashed Al Khalifa, gave a lecture on the security challenges facing the Kingdom at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, which is considered the most prominent intellectual centre in the world.  The ambassador stressed the importance of security co-operation between the Kingdom and its international allies, led by the United States of America, to tackle the scourge of terrorism and extremism on national, regional and international levels, and that such security co-operation is no less important than defence co-operation between countries.

As for the security challenges facing the Kingdom, the ambassador talked about the diversity of the security challenges posed by some terrorist and extremist groups that were trained and supported by money and equipment by the Iranian regime, as evidenced by the quality of the confiscated weapons as well as the methods followed by such groups, as it is sometimes identical to the same terrorist organisations supported by the Iranian regime in the region.

He explained that the attacks carried out by such terrorist and extremist groups, ranging from the use of Molotov cocktails, improvised explosive devices which is considered more complex, and the Kingdom witnessed the worst terrorist attack in its history using such explosive devices in 2014, which led to the death of four of martyrs of duty. He added that the operations of such terrorist groups have witnessed a qualitative shift involving the use of drones, such as in the process of storming a prison in the southern area, which led to the death of one policeman and the escape of ten terrorists.

In conclusion, the ambassador affirmed that the reform approach of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has been a safety valve for the Bahraini society against extremism and terrorism, and in light of this approach, the Ministry of Interior adopted 90 initiatives within the national plan to promote Nationalism and the consolidation of the values of citizenship in order to face foreign attempts exotic to the Kingdom, which seeks to consecrate sectarianism by preserving the inherent values of Bahraini society.