Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

Countering Terrorist Finance: Afghanistan, a member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money
Laundering (APG), a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body, took initial steps
to address deficiencies in its anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism
(AML/CFT) regime. In June, Afghanistan was publicly identified by FATF as a jurisdiction with
strategic AML/CFT deficiencies. At that time, the Central Bank of Afghanistan confirmed by
letter to FATF the government’s high-level commitment to implement an action plan agreed
upon with the FATF to address these deficiencies. The FATF action plan outlined a number of
areas that the government needs to address to bring Afghanistan into compliance with
international standards, including the enactment of amended AML/CFT legislation. To date,
terrorist finance investigations in Afghanistan have been hampered by a weak or non-existent
legal and regulatory regime, coupled with lack of capacity and political commitment. For further
information on money laundering and financial crimes, we refer you to the 2013 International
Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial
Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.
Regional and International Cooperation: Afghanistan consistently emphasized the need to
strengthen joint cooperation to fight terrorism and violent extremism in a variety of bilateral and
multilateral fora. Notable among such meetings were regular meetings of the U.S.-Afghanistan-
Pakistan Core Group; the frequent Istanbul Process meetings; and meetings of the Organization
of Islamic Cooperation, the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, the
UN Office of Drugs and Crime, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and other organizations.
Afghanistan supported the UNGA Resolution establishing the UN Centre for Counter-Terrorism
as part of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force.
Afghanistan has driven the Counterterrorism Confidence Building Measure (CBM) of the
Istanbul Process, working closely with Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Throughout 2012,
the CBM working group identified activities that will be undertaken to counter terrorism and
increase cooperation and mutual confidence.
The Project Global Shield (PGS) partnership focused on monitoring and curtailing the illicit
diversion of 14 precursor chemicals used in the production of improvised explosive devices
(IEDs), and reported an expansion from 82 to 97 participant countries and international
organizations included in the World Customs Organization. The PGS-targeted precursors were
used in insurgent IED attacks targeting civilian, Afghan, and ISAF elements in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan also continued to work with its NATO-ISAF partners and with its regional
neighbors to improve training, capacity, and counterterrorism collaboration. With Turkey and
Pakistan, it held a trilateral Summit in December and discussed cooperation and held joint
exercises in counterterrorism operations. Besides the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed
with the United States in May, Afghanistan signed similar agreements with Italy and France in
January 2012, and continued to work on agreements with Turkey and other NATO countries.
Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism: Afghanistan’s programs to counter
violent extremism continued through increased engagement with religious communities.
According to most estimates, over 90 percent of Afghan mosques and madrassas operated
independently of government oversight. Some promoted violent extremist ideology. The
Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs, as well as the Department of Islamic Education at the
Ministry of Education, continued efforts to register more mosques and madrassas with limited
success. The National Ulema Council, a quasi-governmental body of religious scholars
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