DUBAI, October 5 (RIA Novosti) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) called on the United States to explain US Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks, who said that several American partners, including the UAE support military groups in Syria.
“Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Abwar Mohammed Qarqash was surprised with these statements and highlighted that they are far from truth, especially with regard to a role of the UAE in countering extremism and terrorism,” UAE Foreign Ministry’s statement reads.
“These statements ignore the specific steps made by the UAE, as well as an official country’s position regarding terrorism financing,” Qarqash said, adding that the UAE calls on the US to provide them with an official explanation of Biden’s words.
On Thursday, speaking at Harvard University, Joe Biden told students that US’s allies’ financial support to militants in Syria and Iraq was Washington’s major problem.
"They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad. Except that the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra and al-Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world," Biden said.
Earlier, Biden’s speech at Harvard angered Turkish government, too.
Joe Biden said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had admitted that Turkey made mistakes by helping violent militants in Syria. Erdogan denied the claims and demanded Biden’s apology for his comments.
On Saturday, Biden made a phone call to Erdogan to apologize for his recent remarks.
