The Treasury on Thursday placed sanctions on a Pakistan-based hawala, or money transfer business, Haji Basir and Zarjmil Company (Basir Zarjmil Hawala), and its owner, Haji Abdul Basir, for providing financial services or other support to the Taliban. The Treasury Department said the sanctions on the company were aimed at the financial networks of the Taliban.
Basir's business, based in Balochistan, allegedly distributes money to Taliban members in Afghanistan and has allegedly used Pakistani banks as a conduit for Taliban financing, the Treasury said.
Basir was considered to be the principal money exchanger for Taliban senior leadership in Pakistan from as far back as 2012.
The Treasury also placed sanctions on Qari Rahmat, allegedly a Taliban commander since at least February 2010 who the Treasury claim also collects taxes and bribes on behalf of the Taliban and supplies them with arms.
"The Taliban continues to conduct terrorist attacks against US forces and innocent civilians, posing a direct threat to US national security interests," claimed David Cohen, the Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, in a statement.
"We will continue to work to deprive terrorists of the funds necessary to sustain and perpetrate terrorist operations."
On Thursday, the US had also placed sanctions on Haqqani network leaders.
Two al Qaeda men sanctioned
Abdul Mohsen Abdallah Ibrahim al Sharekh, allegedly the head of al Qaeda operations in Syria, and Hamid Hamad Hamid al-Ali were placed on a sanctions list by the United Nations Security Council on August 15. The Treasury's move on Friday to sanction came in support of the UN action.
Under the designation issued by the US Treasury, any assets of two men - Saudi and Kuwaiti nationals - under US jurisdiction are frozen and Americans are "generally prohibited from doing business with them."
"We are determined to stem the flow of funds to terrorists in Syria and Iraq who continue to commit violent acts and threaten US and allied interests in the region," David Cohen, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
Al Sharekh, a Saudi citizen, is described as a Syria-based senior leader of the Al-Nusra Front, as well as a key al Qaeda facilitator, who moved to the war-torn country in the spring of 2013.
Listed as one of Saudi Arabia's most-wanted terrorists, he previously served as a "key financial facilitator" for the al Qaeda in Pakistan, according to the Treasury.
On the other hand, Al-Ali is accused of raising tens of thousands of dollars to help the Al-Nusra Front buy weapons and supplies and also directed donors in his native Kuwait to support the group.
The Treasury, saying he has called himself an "al Qaeda commando," also alleges al-Ali raised money for al Qaeda and arranged travel for a number of foreign fighters to Syria.
Earlier this month, the United States slapped sanctions on three other men, two of them Kuwaiti, accusing them of providing money, fighters and weapons to extremists in Iraq and Syria.
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So why hasn't Pakistan tossed these guys in jail? Probably the same reason it never issued the Abbottabad report, never lifted a finger to find anyone who was providing aid to OBL, denied Quetta Shura, can't provide any evidence it has killed/captured any Haqqani etc. etc.
@Gp65: Pakistanis know the facts of what happens in our country. You Indians should worry about getting justice for victims of Gujurat, UP, and Assam riots. We will talk when Modi is in jail.
@Hamza: If Osama was not in Pakistan, why did Pakistan not expose the lie. In fact they confirmed it by sending Afridi to jail in a sham 1 day trial without any lawyer under FCR.
How true is it, is really not known. But it is quite clear that Obama to cover his unemployment and fiscal crises is now moving to show some heroic to his customers as he did in 2011, pretending to kill Osama bin Laden, who never existed in Pakistan.