South Africa has succeeded in getting out of the suspicious (grey) list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) after almost three years. The global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog announced the decision at the conclusion of its three-day plenary meeting in Paris last week.

Countries included in the FATF Suspicious List are closely monitored and such countries have to address strategic deficiencies to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, etc. “Over the past 32 months, South Africa has worked with a team of FATF-appointed reviewers to assess the progress of the action plan,” South Africa’s Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Assurance from South Africa to FATF

According to the statement, ‘Thanks to this collaboration, reviewers inspected the site at the end of July 2025. During this time, reviewers came here to confirm the sustainability of the reforms and the report prepared by them was presented before FATF.

The FATF was assured of the government’s commitment to sustainable improvements in its anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, the statement said. However, the Finance Ministry has also cautioned against any negligence to avoid being included back in the FATF suspect list. Apart from South Africa, FATF has also removed Nigeria, Mozambique and Burkina Faso from its suspicious list.

What is the work of FATF?

FATF (Financial Action Task Force) is an international organization that works to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing globally.

FATF was established in 1989 by the G-7 countries and its purpose is to set standards and guidelines for the prevention of financial crimes in countries. FATF member countries include 39 member countries and territories, which together take action against global financial crimes.

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The terrorist attack on 22 April in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir shook the entire country. The responsibility of this attack was taken by the terrorist organization The Resistance Front (TRF), which is considered to be a front organization working in the shadow of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Recently, the US had declared TRF a global terrorist organization, after which Pakistan was shocked, but now Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that he has no objection to it.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar made a statement in the US that TRF has no relation with Lashkar or Pakistan, which is exactly the opposite from diplomacy so far. The question is why Pakistan is chasing from TRF? There are five important reasons for this which are working behind this whole incident.

1. Fear of India’s aircraft

After the Pahalgam attack, India had destroyed the terrorist bases by organizing the air -working in Pakistan, but Shahbaz Sharif and the Pak Army said that India attacked our citizens. Now that the US has banned TRF, Pakistan is once again afraid of India’s aircraft. Earlier, India has done surgical and airspack in response to Uri (2016) and Pulwama (2019) attacks.

2. Fear of Trump’s tariff and American pressure

Pakistan also dismissed TRF because it cannot offend America. Where America has declared TRF as a terrorist organization, now Pakistan will not want to take any other action on the US. When US President Donald Trump is putting tariffs on many countries of the world, Pakistan is also harassing the fear of tariff.

3. Military help and defense deals from America

Pakistan is in the process of purchasing some important military equipment from America. If he is accused of supporting terrorist organizations, then these deals will either come to a standstill or can be completely canceled.

4. Fear of returning to the gray list of FATF

FATF (Financial Action Task Force) has recently excluded Pakistan from the gray list, but this situation is very critical. Relationship with an organization like TRF or tolerating it can bring Pakistan back into the monitoring list, which can stop international financial help.

5. Lone and investment from America

Pakistan’s financial condition is very bad. He needs direct investment and debt from IMF, World Bank and America. In such a situation, defending TRF can cause direct damage to Pakistan’s diplomatic interests. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had recently appreciated cooperation against terrorism in meeting Pakistan Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, but this support can only continue when Pakistan shows changes in its attitude.

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