On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate held a confirmation hearing for President Joe
Biden’s nominee, Donald Blome, to serve as ambassador to Pakistan. He is pre


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Next U.S. Ambassador To Pakistan Will Engage With Country Beset By Terror
Issues

 

(New York, N.Y.) — On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate held a confirmation hearing
<[link removed]> for President Joe
Biden’s nominee, Donald Blome, to serve as ambassador to Pakistan. He is
presently the U.S. ambassador to Tunisia. If confirmed, Ambassador Blome will
pilot U.S. engagement in a country beset by challenges, including terrorism and
terror financing. Underscoring Pakistan’s volatility, the Pakistani Taliban,
also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),announced
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last week the end of the ceasefire agreement it reached with the Pakistani
government in November. The TTP is a U.S.-designatedForeign Terrorist
Organization <[link removed]>.

 

Pakistan is home to one of the largest concentrations of terrorist groups in
the world including at least five identified and sanctioned by the U.N.
Security Council.Laskhar-e-Taiba
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,Jaish-e-Mohammad
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,Harakut ul Mujahidin
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,Lashkar-i Jhangvi
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, andJamaat-ul-Ahrar
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all operate in Pakistan in addition to the TTP andISIS-K
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. Ambassador Blome testified that he would “press Pakistan to target all
terrorist groups without distinction.” The Pakistani government uses a tailored
approach, distinguishing between groups that it defines as a threat to domestic
security and other al-Qaeda affiliates that Pakistan feels are generally
helpful in its competition with its regional rivals.

 

Ambassador Blome also testified that he would “work with Pakistan to resolve
market access issues,” which may similarly prove to be an uphill battle given
Pakistan’s history of deficiencies in its policing of terror financing.

 

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has placed Pakistan on its “grey list”
of nations that maintain insufficient anti-money laundering/counter terror
financing (AML/CTF) mechanisms. In June 2018, Pakistan committed to work with
the FATF to improve its AML/CTF policies. In February 2019, the FATF reported
that Pakistan has made “limited progress.” According to the FATF, Pakistan
“does not demonstrate a proper understanding” of the terror financing risks
posed by al-Qaeda, ISIS, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and other terror
groups. This past October, the FATF noted Pakistan has made significant
progress in addressing its deficiencies but still needed to demonstrate that
Task Force investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders
of U.N.-designated terrorist groups.

 

To read Counter Extremism Project (CEP)’s resource Pakistan, please click here
<[link removed]>.

 

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