Gulf countries are greatly concerned about Qatar using its large stockpile of black money to fund terrorism and spark unrest in the region. Despite its foreign debt of US$ 172 billion, Qatar has been putting its underground wealth to full use against Gulf and Arab security. Qatar held the illusion that its underground economy was helping it emerge as a mighty force to reckon within the region. When Qatari policies were showing some effect in weaker countries, the country's leaders were led to believe that it was due to the strength of its currency. Qatar maintained the belief that it had the power to influence politics in some of the countries of the region. And this illusionary belief only encouraged the small country to pursue its policy of using black money to meet its political ends. However, what Doha failed to realize was that it takes much more than wads of black money to dominate regional politics. Qatari politicians lack the political vision to play a leadership role in the region. This explains why Qatar brings in advisors from other countries to add finesse to its political decisions. Azmi Bishara, former member of Israeli Knesset, became the mastermind of the Qatari policy and the countries godfather of sorts. This made Doha interfere in every conflict in the Arab world. It used its money to guide the political thinking in those conflicts based on its extremist agenda. But as it turned out, Qatar was left in the lurch without making any real headway in its political agenda. Its lack of strategic vision or a sense of clear identity let it down. It only succeeded in fortifying its hostilities towards Gulf and Arab interests. Despite Qatar's reckless policies, the world failed to see through its designs. It was only when Qatar's black money began feeding terrorism did the world sit up and take notice. In 2014, the Sunday newspaper urged British Prime Minister David Cameron to put the issue of terror financing on top of the agenda of talks with the Qatari Emir in London. The newspaper said that Cameron was duty-bound to pressurize Qatar to block all channels of funding to the Daesh terrorist group. Sources say that Qatar allocated US$ 7.9 billion to finance terrorist organizations in 2010. The amount rose to US$ 10.4 billion in 2011 before jumping to US$ 11.4 million in 2012. In 2013, Qatar increased its terror funding to US$ 12.2 billion. It rose to US$ 12.6 billion in 2014, dipping to US$ 9.9 billion in 2015, according to the sources. Washington Times has reported that Qatar was funding Daesh with black money, and was harming the interests of its fellow Gulf states. Besides the Qatari riyal, the Al-Jazeera channel, with its venomous and biased reporting, worked as an additional force to destabilize the security and stability of Egypt. Libya has also complained about constant Qatari interference. Observers feel that Qatar's policy of defiance against Gulf and Arab consensus has come to such a stead that the road to restoring relations is rather long-winding and strewn with pitfalls.
