WASHINGTON – US State department’s spokesperson Heather Nauert hinted thata resolution to place Pakistan on a global terror-financing watchlist hadbeen submitted to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Britain, Franceand Germany have also endorsed this resolution, which was moved by theUnited States.

The remarks precede a crucial FATF meeting in Paris next week to considernew proposals for countering terrorism and money laundering.

The FATF is an international policy-making and standard-setting bodydedicated to combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Itmaintains grey and black lists for identifying countries with weakcounterterrorism mechanisms.

The watchdog does not have the powers to impose sanctions but its listingcan affect international transactions as it also exposes the countrydealing with a state on the watch list to greater scrutiny.

Asked if the US had moved such a resolution in the FATF, Ms Nauert said shecould not confirm or deny it as FATF deliberations were “private”. But sheconfirmed that the international community had such concerns about Pakistan.

“Basically, the international community has this sort of longstandingconcern when it comes to the government of Pakistan, about what we considerto be deficiencies in the implementation of anti-money laundering,counterterrorism, and other types of issues similar to that,” she said.

Asked if the US was satisfied with a new law that Pakistan made last weekto enhance its counterterrorism capabilities, Ms Nauert said she did nothave enough information about the law to comment.