Faith, charity and the money trail to Pakistan's Islamist militants
by Declan Walsh from The Guardian
Foreign money is fuelling the tide of Islamist violence washing across northern Pakistan, according to diplomats, analysts and money laundering experts. Pakistan's notoriously lax financial system helps them to move the money into the country. Donors in petrodollar-rich Gulf countries, the US and Europe send donations - anything from a few thousand dollars to several million, said Seth Jones of the Washington-based Rand Corporation. "Without significant funding from abroad, especially the Gulf states, we would be nowhere near the current level of Islamist militancy," he said. "We're talking about tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars."