Combating the financing of terrorism

efforts to disrupt and dismantle illicit financial networks and to build domestic capacities within Afghanistan, all designed to undermine the financial networks of illicit actors and safeguard the nascent, but growing Afghan financial sector. Treasury staff in Washington and on the ground in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Gulf are working with others to aggressively attack the finances of the Taliban, al Qaeda and other terrorist groups operating in the region.

— Threat Finance Cells: Treasury has helped pioneer a novel approach to attacking illicit financial networks – the Threat Finance Cell – by providing threat finance expertise and actionable intelligence to U.S. civilian and military leaders. First developed in Iraq under Treasury and Defense Department co-leadership, the Afghan Threat Finance Cell (ATFC) seeks to identify and disrupt financial networks related to terrorism, the Taliban, narcotics trafficking and corruption. Led by the Drug Enforcement Agency with Treasury serving as co-deputy, nearly sixty ATFC personnel are embedded with military commands across Afghanistan to improve the targeting of the insurgents’ financial structure. Specially-vetted Afghan authorities have also partnered with the ATFC on raids of hawalas suspected of illicit financial activities, including insurgent finance, narcotics trafficking and corruption. This cooperation has resulted in the collection of tens of thousands of financial documents.

— Expanded Treasury footprint in key regions: Since 2005, Treasury has established Treasury Attaché offices in Abu Dhabi, Jerusalem, Riyadh, Islamabad, and Kabul.

Combating the financing of terrorism and illicit finance

— Enhancing transparency in the financial system:TFI oversees the administration of regulations requiring financial services providers to collect, maintain and report information that supports law enforcement investigations and helps to deter the financing of terrorism and other illicit activities. Treasury’s efforts, including at the 36-member Financial Action Task Force, promote international standards that enhance the transparency of the international financial system so that illicit financing networks are more susceptible to detection and disruption.

— Developing and applying targeted economic and financial measures: TFI works in collaboration with other federal agencies and the international community to develop and apply a range of targeted economic sanctions and financial measures to identify and disrupt financing networks of organizations including al Qaeda core, al Qaeda affiliates, the Taliban and other terrorist organizations.

— Fostering a global approach to combat terrorist financing: Bilateral and multilateral engagement amplifies Treasury’s efforts by ensuring a collaborative and cooperative approach in achieving two key objectives: combating the sources of terrorist financing and building the systemic capacities of countries around the world to protect against illicit finance.

— Engaging in comprehensive private sector outreach: The private sector is an ally in combating terrorist financing. TFI’s outreach aims to help facilitate a better understanding of terrorist financing activities and risks, promote the development and implementation of terrorist financing risk mitigation and enhance financial institutions’ compliance with efforts to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

— Interagency coordination: Implementing an effective counterterrorist financing strategy requires the involvement of different USG agencies, each of which brings specific expertise to the effort. Agencies involved include those charged with collecting information, analyzing information, engaging with foreign counterparts, developing international standards, and implementing financial sanctions against targets unique to each agency’s national security role. The USG has a strong infrastructure in place to coordinate these efforts, with a variety of mechanisms to coordinate U.S. counterterrorism financing initiatives.