Treasury increases Al Qaeda attack
Remember reports last year that Al Qaeda was in the worst state from a financial point of view since years? We should also remember Sun Tzu: no matter how weak your enemy has become; crush your enemy before he regains strength.
“We need to redouble our efforts to combat the financial support networks of al Qaeda and the Taliban,” David Cohen, assistant secretary for terrorist financing, said in prepared remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
Al Qaeda and the Taliban adapt to our counter strategies quite quickly. Using hawala networks has been an alternative choice for moving terrorist funds around the world. Licensing hawala outlets is a way to control these networks; audit the legit ones and increase intelligence and investigations efforts on the ones that decide to stay underground. The Gulf region, Pakistan and Afghanistan will be the main areas that will see increased enforcement efforts.
“We may not be able to bankrupt al Qaeda, the Taliban or some of the lesser known groups operating in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said. “But through the coordinated, creative and relentless effort to attack their financial networks, we appreciably enhance our national security.”
The US Treasury already has attache offices in Kabul and Islamabad, and a resident advisor at the Afghan Central Bank’s FIU (financial intelligence unit). Another advisor will arrive shortly to assist in improving financial oversight, and there are plans to send advisors to Pakistan to help build the intelligence capabilities at the State Bank of Pakistan and improve law enforcement’s financial investigations.