VIF Information Alerts - 21 October 2019

U.S. defense chief in Afghanistan for firsthand look at war
Published: The Hindu

21 Oct 2019

Mark Esper sought a firsthand assessment Sunday of the U.S. military’s future role in America’s longest war as he made his initial visit to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief. Stalled peace talks with the Taliban and unrelenting attacks by the insurgent group and Islamic State militants have complicated the Trump administration’s pledge to withdraw more than 5,000 American troops.Click here to read... [2]

India, Philippines sign pacts on maritime domain and security boosting partnership in Indo-Pacific
Published: The Economic Times

21 Oct 2019

India and Philippines on Friday signed key pacts in the field of maritime domain and security as the two sides emphasised on rules based international order amid China’s ambitions and need to jointly fight international terror. The pacts were signed during the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to Manila.Click here to read... [3]

India, Maldives to take forward defence ties
Published: The Hindu

2o Oct 2019

With the recent improvement in relations, India and the Maldives will take forward several pending measures to promote defence cooperation in the next few months, diplomatic sources said. These include lease of a Dornier aircraft, bringing the Maldives under India’s coastal radar chain network and a broad-based humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) exercise.Click here to read... [4]

Sri Lanka removed from FATF's Grey List
Published: India Today

20 Oct 2019

Sri Lanka has been removed from the "Grey List" of the international terror financing watchdog FATF, according to a media report. The island nation will no longer be subject to the Financial Action Task Force's monitoring under its on-going global anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance process, the Colombo Gazette reported on Saturday.
The FATF, whose five-day plenary concluded in Paris on Friday, said Sri Lanka made significant progress in addressing the strategic AML/CFT deficiencies identified earlier, the daily said.Click here to read... [5]

Global anti-terror body FATF gives Pakistan till February to curb terror funding
Published: Hindustan Times

19 Oct 2019

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday warned Pakistan it would be placed on the multilateral watchdog’s blacklist if it fails to improve its counterterror financing operations by February 2020, highlighting the country’s failure to crack down on fund-raising by UN-designated terrorists. The FATF concluded during its plenary meeting in Paris that Pakistan had failed to deliver on 22 out of 27 items in an action plan drawn up after the country was placed in the grey list in June 2018.Click here to read... [6]