Global financial overseer FATF’s latest 2025 risk assessment paints a troubling picture for Pakistan: its anti-money laundering laws look solid in theory but falter disastrously in practice. Terror outfits are evolving faster than regulators can keep up, shifting from banks to slick fintech channels to fund operations undetected.
Washington analyst Siddhant Kishore, writing in ‘The Cipher Brief,’ predicts Pakistan’s charm offensive at the upcoming February 2026 FATF sessions in Mexico City. Expect polished presentations on legislative tweaks and compliance stats, all while real-world violence simmers in South Asia.
‘Terror networks aren’t vanishing; they’re upgrading,’ Kishore notes. Drawing from public reports and financial intel, he exposes how UN-listed JeM and LeT have pivoted to digital innovation. Gaza’s humanitarian woes provide perfect cover for fundraising via relief scams and mosque rebuilds.
Key figures like Hammad Azhar (son of JeM’s Masood Azhar) and Talha al-Saif orchestrate this through digital wallets. Small donations and crypto flow in, laundered via chain-hopping across platforms to stay anonymous.
These resources rebuild terror hubs, notably over 300 mosques and sites hit during India’s 2025 Operation Sindoor, long suspected as LeT camps. It’s a cycle of destruction and regeneration fueled by unchecked flows.
Kishore calls on Western powers to demand accountability at Mexico: prioritize tangible outcomes like asset freezes and network disruptions over mere paperwork. As terror tactics digitize, FATF must evolve or risk irrelevance in curbing Pakistan-linked threats.