US Moves Motion To Place Pakistan On Global Terror Financing Watchlist At FATF: Report
The United States has reportedly put forward a motion to place Pakistan on a global terrorist financing watch list at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting due to take place in Paris next week.
FATF is an international inter-governmental body tasked with countering money laundering and terrorist financing.
The US move was confirmed by senior Pakistani officials, Reuters said.
Pakistan was on the FATF watchlist from 2012 to 2015. Experts feel inclusion of Pakistan on the list would hit hits economy as investors would pull away from the country and it would make it tough for Islamabad to borrow money which is likely to put additional pressure on the government.
FATF had earlier warned Pakistan it would put it back on the watch list even as several US officials including President Trump openly declared the country wasn't doing enough to stop terrorist activity on its soil.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: "the US has consistently expressed our long-standing concern about ongoing deficiencies in Pakistan’s implementation of its anti-money laundering/counterterrorism finance regime."
"In addition to broader systemic concerns, this also includes Pakistan’s non-compliance with its commitments under UN Security Council Resolution 1267," Nauert added.
Reuters quoted a spokesperson at the US embassy in Islamabad saying that the United States was "absolutely not" acting on behalf of India.
Meanwhile, US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said Pakistan's military is holding back counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States while continuing to go easy on militant groups inside its territory.
"Pakistan-based militant groups continue to take advantage of their safe haven to conduct attacks in India, in Afghanistan, and including US interests therein," Coats said.
Coats added that the US had announced terror designations in recent weeks on eight members of the Taliban, the Haqqani Network and other groups, aiming to boost pressure on the militants' abilities to operate.
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