After Donald Trump, Kuwait bans visa for five Muslim-majority countries, including Pakistan
Kuwait City: After US President Donald Trump's executive order banning seven Muslim-majority countries last Friday, now Kuwait has suspended the issuance of visas for nationals of Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
The Kuwaiti government has told would-be migrants from the five banned nations to not apply for visas, as it is worried about the possible migration of radical Islamic terrorists, Sputnik International reported.
Kuwait was the only nation to prohibit the entry of Syrian nationals prior to Trump's executive action. Kuwait City previously issued a suspension of visas for all Syrians in 2011, as per IANS.
A group of militants bombed a Shia mosque in 2015, killing 27 Kuwaiti nationals. A 2016 survey conducted by Expat Insider ranked Kuwait one of the worst nations in the world for expatriates, primarily due to its strict cultural laws.
As a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Kuwait has become embroiled in escalated tensions between the GCC and Iran. Washington has been a guarantor of GCC security since the early 1990s, according to a Congressional Research Service brief.
Meanwhile, Trump yesterday said that his decision to impose travel restrictions on people from seven Muslim-majority countries was aimed at keeping "bad people" out of America even as he dismissed the raging debate over his controversial move as irrelevant.
"Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a ban. Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country," he tweeted.
Trump signed an executive order on Friday to block refugees from entering the US for 120 days and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim nations away for three months.
Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia are the countries impacted.
Earlier, White House press secretary Sean Spicer had dismissed the idea that Trump imposed a ban.
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