in the 1980s, the saudi arabian government began to pay for the building of mosques in countries around the world. an estimated us$45 billion has been spent by the saudi arabian government for mosques and islamic schools in foreign countries. "ain al-yaqeen", a saudi newspaper, reported in 2002 that saudi money may have helped to build as many as 1,500 mosques and 2,000 other islamic centers. saudi citizens have also given a lot of money to mosques in the islamic world, especially in countries where they see muslims as poor and oppressed. following the fall of the soviet union, in 1992, mosques in afghanistan received money from saudi citizens. the king fahd mosque in culver city, california and the islamic cultural center of italy in rome are two of saudi arabia's largest investments in foreign mosques as former saudi king fahd bin abdul aziz al-saud gave us$8 million and us$50 million to the two mosques, respectively.