Terrorism | Analysis & Reports

Pakistan Resorts to Usual Tricks as it Fails to Comply with FATF Regulations

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global watchdog against money laundering and terrorist financing, is set to review Pakistan’s performance next month. Pakistan was placed on the Grey List in June 2018 under enhanced monitoring for its persistent failure to curb terrorist financing. Since then, its progress has been periodically reviewed, only to […]

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Will the ‘Grey List’ Turn ‘Black’ for Pakistan at the FATF’s February Plenary?

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global watchdog against terrorist financing and money laundering, reviewed Pakistan’s progress during its October 2021 plenary session and decided to retain the country on its Grey List. Pakistan at the time claimed that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar was “untraceable” and a proclaimed offender, while making a

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Unravelling of Afghanistan

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

Everything Afghanistan achieved over the last two decades has crumbled within months of the Taliban’s return. Since mid-August 2021, the pace of collapse has been as breath-taking as the disintegration of the former Islamic Republic itself: in just four months, the country has spiralled into hunger, mass unemployment, economic breakdown, an exodus of educated professionals,

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The Aafia Siddiqi Hostage Drama: What It Really Means

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

Ordinarily, the state cannot be held directly responsible for the acts of individuals. Yet Pakistan presents a striking exception. Decades of state-sponsored efforts to construct a religio-political identity have blurred the line between legality and zealotry, creating a culture in which private acts of extremism often mirror official narratives. With poor quality education and widespread

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Who is Responsible for Pakistan Becoming a Terror Sponsor?

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

Thirteen years after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, in which over 160 people were killed, Pakistan has brazenly refused to prosecute the accused. This impunity has been enabled by the failure of the international community—especially powerful countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and China—to impose meaningful costs on Islamabad. The result: Pakistan has

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International Community Worried Over Pakistani Nukes Falling Into Taliban Hands

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has emboldened radical and extremist forces across the border in Pakistan. With a porous frontier and long-standing ideological ties, fears are mounting that instability could spill over, weakening Islamabad’s fragile control and raising the unthinkable prospect of Taliban access to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Growing Global Alarm Pakistan is

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Terrible Tragedy for Afghanistan’s ‘Unwanted’

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

The collapse of Afghanistan’s government in August 2021 has produced one of the largest forced displacements in recent history, evoking comparisons with the “boat people” of Southeast Asia and the exodus from Syria. The crisis has been compounded by Pakistan’s restrictive border policies, leaving Afghans trapped between Taliban repression at home and hostility abroad. Escalating

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Pakistan Triggers Serious Refugee Crisis

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

The Taliban’s Pakistan-assisted military takeover of Afghanistan has triggered a severe refugee crisis, exposing fragile regional security dynamics and posing complex challenges for international policy. The crisis is not only humanitarian but also geopolitical, with neighbouring states closing their borders and signalling an unwillingness to assume the burden of displaced populations. Scale of Displacement The

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Return of Taliban’s Gender Terror Complete in Afghanistan

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

Women’s protests against the Taliban’s Islamist gender terror are fading. Since mid-September, demonstrations in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, and other cities have all but disappeared. It is as if the Taliban never really left Afghan women alone during the last 20 years. Silencing Urban Voices Initially, women braved the streets to demand their right to work,

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Afghan Women Challenge Taliban

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

The fall of the Ashraf Ghani government, collapsing like a house of cards, paved the way for the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan. With their return has come a new wave of rigid, orthodox rules—once again targeting women most severely. Reports of harassment and brutalities against women multiplied as the Taliban advanced across the country,

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Hardliners Dominate in New Afghan Government

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

The Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan last month, have rushed to form a ‘caretaker’ government. Three weeks after storming into Kabul, the movement has awarded the most important positions to religious hardliners and foot soldiers—choices facilitated by the careful midwifing of Pakistan. Pakistan’s Hand in the Power Balance Pakistan’s influence is unmistakable. Field commanders,

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No Place for Women in Taliban’s Afghanistan

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

“Any state that fails to act to end Pakistan’s invasion & prevent further Taliban brutality are betraying the women & girls of Afghanistan & making a complete mockery of their commitment to women’s rights,” tweeted Christopher (Chris) Alexander, Canada’s first envoy to Kabul. His warning captures the growing sense of betrayal felt by Afghans—especially women—at

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Taliban: Pakistan’s First and Only Choice

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

After twenty years of being wilfully misled by Pakistan, the Western world—led by the United States—still refuses to confront the reality that it has been deceived over Afghanistan. Even now, as the Taliban sweeps across the country, capturing nearly fourteen provincial capitals and forcing the surrender of the Kunduz-based Army Corps, Washington and its allies

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Pakistan is to Blame for the Taliban’s Return

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

The world has been left in shock and sorrow for the people of Afghanistan, who have once again fallen to the Taliban. A two-decade struggle for democracy and freedom has ended in humiliation for those who championed it. Human rights defenders, political leaders, and ordinary citizens fought valiantly against the Taliban’s resurgence, yet they were

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Pakistan: Religious Minorities at Risk

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

Blasphemy cases in Pakistan tell a disturbing story about human relationships, where individuals and communities often manipulate the country’s laws to settle personal disputes with members of minority groups. The blasphemy laws, which carry punishments as severe as life imprisonment or the death penalty, have become tools for arbitrary detention, intimidation, and violence. They have

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Pakistan’s Support of the Taliban Enrages Kabul

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

When news broke of the death of Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Afghans celebrated in the streets. Gul had been instrumental in ensuring that no government in Kabul succeeded after the 1980s Afghan War and in nurturing the Taliban movement that plunged the country into perpetual conflict. Despite cultural and religious

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Afghanistan–Pakistan: A New Axis of Terror

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

A new axis of terror is taking shape in the Af–Pak theatre, forged through the convergence of interests between Pakistan, China and Turkey, with the Taliban eager to cooperate. The pretence is over; there is no longer any smoke screen. Pakistan has abandoned any illusion of being a reliable ally of the West, even though

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Gaping Hole in Pakistan’s FATF Compliance

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

A glaring loophole remains in Pakistan’s attempts to curb terrorist financing under international pressure, a gap that could place the country on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklist. It is still unclear whether the omission in small savings schemes has been left deliberately to benefit terrorist groups—many of which enjoy state patronage—enabling them to

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The Dangerous Game between Hamas and Pakistan

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

Following the latest outbreak of clashes between Hamas—the Palestinian quasi-state terrorist organisation—and Israel, a ceasefire was agreed that few believe will endure. For Hamas, this truce is merely a tactical pause in its violent campaign against Israel. Israel, too, does not expect it to last—not out of unwillingness, but because it knows Hamas will inevitably

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Will Pakistan Act Against Terrorist Leaders?

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by The Times of Israel

Remaining on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for another year may be the least of Pakistan’s concerns. What poses a greater challenge is the FATF’s insistence that Pakistan investigate and prosecute leaders of UN-designated terrorist groups living on its soil—an expectation that directly clashes with Islamabad’s aspirations to shape the

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The Islamic State’s golden opportunity in Mozambique

Special Report / Kelly Kassis • Published by The Hill

After suffering humiliating defeats in the Middle East, the Islamic State has turned to Africa to reestablish its power and prove that it nonetheless has prevailed. At this stage, the group remains a mere shadow of the threat it once cast, but the Mozambique government’s petty corruption and ineptitude may present the greatest opportunity for

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The Man Who Saved the World from Pakistan

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by Modern Diplomacy

But for a few brave souls like Frits Veerman, Pakistan might have become the world’s most frightening nightmare. Not that it is not today, but it could have been worse: we might now be facing the spectre of nuclear Armageddon. Veerman, a professional photographer in Amsterdam, was one of the first to raise the alarm

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Dual Use Technology Imports Aiding Pakistan’s Covert Nuclear Programme

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by Modern Diplomacy

A recent threat assessment by Norwegian security agencies has drawn attention to Pakistan’s exploitation of dual-use technology, exposing the country as one of the greatest threats to international security. Norway thus joins a growing list of states that have raised alarm over Pakistan’s persistent practice of bypassing international safeguards to acquire sensitive nuclear technology, ostensibly

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The Autopsy of Jihadism in the United States

Special Report / Fabien Baussart Published by Modern Diplomacy

The American counter-terrorism establishment has been jolted by a sobering realisation: its most persistent terrorist threat is not foreign, but domestic. Contrary to conventional wisdom, “a large majority of jihadist terrorists in the United States have been American citizens or legal residents”. This conclusion comes from New America, a think tank providing one of the

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