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IN a stunning turnabout for a land of 1.8 million people that not long ago was among the most pro-American Muslim societies in the world, Saudi money and influence have transformed once-tolerant Kosovo at the hem of Europe into a font of Islamic extremism and a pipeline for jihadists. Kosovo now finds itself, like the rest of Europe, fending off the threat of radical Islam. Over the last 2 years, the police have identified 314 Kosovars — including two suicide bombers, 44 women and 28 children — who have gone abroad to join the Islamic State, the highest number per capita in Europe. They were radicalized and recruited by a corps of extremist clerics and secretive associations funded by Saudi Arabia and other conservative Arab gulf states using an obscure, labyrinthine network of donations from charities, private individuals and government ministries.
At www.nytimes.com
