ISLAMABAD – Saudi Arabia joined Turkey and China in a move to block aU.S.-led attempt this week to place Pakistan on an internationalterror-financing watch list, according to officials involved in theprocess, in a rare disagreement between Riyadh and the Trumpadministration, Wall Street Journal has reported.
Saudi Arabia’s move on behalf of Pakistan came just days after Islamabadsaid it would send more than 1,000 troops to the Gulf kingdom, which hasexpanded its military posture in the region since its 2015 intervention inYemen’s civil war.
A U.S. effort to reverse the decision on the watch list was under wayWednesday at a meeting in Paris of the Financial Action Task Force, asecretive international body that monitors countries’ efforts to fightterror financing and money-laundering, according to the officials involvedin the process.
The officials said the U.S. effort, which included pressure on the Saudis,raised the possibility of a fresh vote on action against Pakistan as soonas Thursday. The Pakistanis were scrambling to shore up support.
The Trump administration, angry with what it sees as inadequate efforts byIslamabad to combat terror groups, has sought to ratchet up pressure onPakistan. Last month it said it was holding back $2 billion aid toPakistan until it sees much stronger action against militants. U.S.officials also accuse Pakistan’s military of supporting some jihadistgroups as proxies against neighboring India and Afghanistan.
Pakistan denies those accusations and says there are no terroristsanctuaries within its territory.
Saudi Arabia is a close U.S. ally, with its crown prince, Mohammed binSalman, forming a personal bond with the family of President Donald Trump.It was Saudi Arabia’s surprise backing that secured the necessary opposingvotes to block the U.S.
If U.S. lobbying is successful and the task force does end up addingPakistan to its list of countries deemed “high risk” for doing too littleto curb terror financing, banks, other lenders and international companiesseeking to do business with the South Asian country could rethink financialties, putting a damper on its already struggling economy.
The U.S. was supported in its effort to put Pakistan on the watch list bythe U.K., France, Germany and other countries. The proposal was initiatedat a working group, which is responsible for making recommendations to the35 member nations and two regional groups that make up the FATF plenary.The meeting continues through Friday.
Pakistan was supported by China and Turkey heading into the FATFworking-group meeting earlier this week. Turkey and the U.S. are allies asmembers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The Trump administration has sought to work with Beijing to constrain NorthKorea’s nuclear-weapons program, but China has allied with Pakistan as afoil against India, where long-simmering tensions over the border havepitted Delhi and Islamabad against one another.
Pakistan had lobbied FATF member countries to keep it off the watch list.It also took last-minute action against Pakistan-based militant groupJamaat-ud-Dawa.
“Our efforts paid,” said Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif onTwitter. “No consensus for nominating Pakistan,” he said, adding, “Gratefulto friends who helped.”
Whether Saudi Arabia sticks by Pakistan now is key, with the issue likelyto come before the full FATF membership at the plenary meeting.
“We’re anticipating that the final decision would be made on Thursday ofthis week,” said Heather Nauert, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman,reiterating that Pakistan was among countries that aren’t doing enough “tocrack down on terror financing, counterterrorism and the like.”
Riyadh, which didn’t respond to requests for comment, was acting onbehalf of the entire Gulf Cooperation Council, the Saudi-dominated bloc ofsix Persian Gulf nations which are collectively a member of the FATF, saidofficials from the countries on the task force.
A State Department official said Pakistan’s efforts appeared deficient. “Welook forward to additional information on how Pakistan is meeting theseobligations,” the official said. Even if the U.S. fails to get Pakistan onthe terror watch list this week, Washington can request that the task forcerevisit the list at its next meeting in June.
Pakistan says it has seized some 200 properties of Jamaat-ud-Dawa. However,the group’s leader, Hafiz Saeed, remains at liberty and was able to give aspeech in Lahore on Fridaylink>—arrestinghim doesn’t come under Pakistan’s obligations to the U.N., Pakistaniofficials said.
While the U.S. long has had strategic relations with Saudi Arabia, Pakistanalso has deep ties to the kingdom. Last week, Pakistan said it would sendsoldiers to Saudi Arabia on what it described as a training and advisorymission. Pakistan Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir-Khan told The WallStreet Journal that between 1,000 and 1,600 soldiers would be sent. Thatcould double the existing contingent of 1,600 Pakistani soldiers there totrain Saudis.
Pakistan didn’t tie the deployment to Saudi support on the watch listquestion and it wasn’t clear whether the two moves were linked. Mr.Dastgir-Khan said the proposed listing of Pakistan at the FATF was anattempt to introduce politics into what was a technical organization.
“This does seem unduly punitive and intrusive,” Mr. Dastgir-Khan said,pointing to Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations in recent years. “Thereis no logical reason for the FATF nomination.”
He said that the Pakistani soldiers would be “spread quite widely aroundthe kingdom” under an agreement with the Saudis dating back to the 1980s.
“The Saudis now have enhanced training needs,” Mr. Dastgir-Khan said.“Pakistan is acting to bolster the capacity of the Saudis.”
Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Qamar Bajwa, has made multiple visits to SaudiArabia in recent months—including a meeting earlier this month with PrinceMohammad, according to a report from the official Radio Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia sent a $1.5 billion “gift” to Pakistan in 2014. Pakistanrelies on overseas workers who send money home to prop up its economy andanemic foreign-exchange reserves. The 1.5 million Pakistanis working inSaudi Arabia provide the biggest chunk of those remittances—$5.5 billionlast year, according to official Pakistani figures.