Afghanistan — Country Risk Report

Afghanistan (Asia Pacific • South Asia). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

Very high country risk, with governance and transparency concerns. Afghanistan's country risk score is 7.0/10, placing it in the very high-risk band. Some information is unavailable, so the available parts are rebalanced and the country will not be labelled Low risk while information is missing. The principal driver is weak voice and accountability, alongside corruption risk. Afghanistan is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed. Afghanistan is not subject to comprehensive country-wide sanctions. Firms should apply additional scrutiny where exposure involves state-linked entities, restricted sectors, sensitive technology, dual-use goods or politically exposed counterparties.

Recommended treatment

Enhanced due diligence.

At a glance

  • FATF status: Not currently listed (one indicator only; it does not set the overall country risk rating by itself)
  • Comprehensive country sanctions: none identified. Targeted sanctions exposure: programmes in place, screen applicable lists
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 7.7/10
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 16/100, rank #169 of 182
  • Enforcement data: not yet assessed (no RegActions coverage)

Country Risk Score: 7.0/10 (Very high)

Higher score means higher country risk (global average 4.6). Some information unavailable. Limited supporting information. Enforcement activity and CPI are shown for context but do not change the score.

One of the three parts is unavailable. The available parts are rebalanced, and the result will not be labelled Low risk while information is missing.

How this score was calculated

  • Financial crime controls: information unavailable — 0% of this score
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 7.7/10 — 60% of this score
  • International sanctions: 5.9/10 — 40% of this score
  • Financial crime controls information is unavailable.
  • sector-wide international sanctions sets a minimum of 6.0, but the calculated score was already higher.
Show the exact calculation

governance 7.7 × 60% + sanctions 5.9 × 40% = 7; sanctions-sectoral floor 6 non-binding; final 7

Principal risk drivers

  • Sectoral sanctions exposure
  • Voice & accountability — 8.1/10
  • Corruption (WGI) — 7.9/10
  • Rule of law & institutions — 7.7/10
  • Political stability — 7.2/10

Mitigating factors

  • Not currently on the FATF grey or black list.
  • No comprehensive country-wide sanctions programme.
  • Risk is concentrated in specific counterparties, sectors and transactions rather than applying uniformly.

Business impact

  • Customer onboarding (Enhanced): Additional ownership and control verification may be required.
  • Payments and transactions (Enhanced): Review transaction purpose, counterparties and geographic routing.
  • Trade and export activity (Enhanced): Screen goods, end users and potential dual-use exposure.
  • Corporate clients (Enhanced): Assess state ownership, government links and political exposure.
  • Ongoing monitoring (Enhanced): Apply alerts for ownership changes, sanctions and geopolitical developments.

Recommended controls

  • Verify ultimate beneficial ownership using more than one reliable source.
  • Identify state ownership, government influence and politically exposed persons.
  • Screen entities, directors and beneficial owners against applicable sanctions lists.
  • Apply enhanced review to technology, defence, telecommunications, financial services and dual-use activity.
  • Document transaction purpose and source of funds where cross-border structures are complex.
  • Escalate unresolved ownership opacity or adverse information to Compliance.

Enhanced due diligence triggers

  • State ownership / control
  • PEP involvement
  • Sensitive / restricted sectors
  • Opaque ownership
  • Adverse media
  • Dual-use goods & technology
  • High-risk intermediary routing

FATF status: Not currently listed

Afghanistan is not on the FATF grey or black list as of the 19 Jun 2026 plenary.

Sanctions: Sectoral

  • EU — sectoral: Restrictive measures imposed with respect to the Taliban (source)
  • OFAC — targeted: Afghanistan-Related Sanctions (source)
  • UK — targeted: Afghanistan sanctions (source)
  • UN — targeted: 1988 Taliban sanctions (source)

Source details

International sanctions by issuing body

  • UN: Yes (Targeted)
  • EU: Yes (Sectoral)
  • UK: Yes (Targeted)
  • US: Yes (Targeted)

No means the complete UN, UK, EU and US review found no direct country-level programme. People or organisations may still appear on sanctions lists.

Government effectiveness and rule of law (World Bank 2024, percentile)

  • Government Effectiveness: 14/100
  • Regulatory Quality: 31/100
  • Rule of Law: 24/100

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via APG.

National regulators

Regulator profiles not yet available on RegActions.

FIU: Not an Egmont Group member

Framework signals

  • FATF listing: Not currently listed
  • International sanctions: sectoral exposure
  • Corruption (CPI 2025): 16/100, rank #169 of 182
  • Rule of law (WGI): 7.7/10 risk

Sector exposure

  • Banking & payments (Elevated): Weak rule-of-law governance (WGI 7.7/10 risk)
  • Trade & export controls (High): Sectoral sanctions: Restrictive measures imposed with respect to the Taliban
  • Crypto & virtual assets (Elevated): Weak accountability governance (WGI 8.1/10 risk)
  • Real estate & luxury assets (High): Severe corruption exposure (CPI 16/100) drives laundering risk
  • State-linked & procurement (High): High state-capture risk (corruption WGI 7.9/10)

Derived from sanctions tier, FATF listing, World Bank WGI governance and CPI; no per-sector dataset is asserted.

Afghanistan: analysis

Afghanistan's risk profile is driven by extreme weakness across all governance domains. Voice and accountability (severe) is the weakest, followed by Rule of law (severe) and Corruption (WGI). Political stability (severe) is also severely impaired. The CPI reading reinforces the corruption assessment. Afghanistan is not on the FATF grey or black list and no sanctions apply, so the profile rests on the governance domains alone. The country ranks in the lowest quartile of the World Bank indicators.

Outlook

Afghanistan's severe risk profile is unlikely to improve materially in the near term given the structural severity of governance failure. The absence of FATF listing means any future listing would represent a step-change upward in scrutiny. Firms should apply enhanced due diligence to any Afghanistan-linked transactions and monitor FATF engagement closely.

Key watchpoints

  • FATF engagement: any move to enhanced monitoring or listing would compound already severe risk.
  • Corruption and rule-of-law indicators, which are the dominant score drivers.
  • Political developments affecting the operating environment and institutional capacity.
  • Voice and accountability trends, reflecting the degree of democratic and civil-society function.

Assessment currency

  • FATF status: Not listed (as of 19 Jun 2026)
  • Sanctions exposure: Targeted programmes in place (as of Jul 2026)
  • Governance (WGI): Latest dataset incorporated (as of 2024)
  • Corruption (CPI): 16/100 (as of 2025)
  • RegActions assessment: Reviewed (as of 19 Jun 2026)

Public evidence layer

FATF action: none. No FATF call-for-action or increased-monitoring status was identified at the latest plenary. This does not establish low risk.

Contextual signals (not scored)

  • FATF network membership: FATF regional network: APG (present, as of 2026-07)
  • EU non-cooperative tax jurisdictions: Not listed in Annex I (absent, as of 2026-02-17)
  • Egmont Group FIU: No Egmont member FIU identified (absent, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Beneficial-ownership register: No live register identified in the source (unavailable, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Transparency International CPI: 16/100, rank 169 (present, as of 2025)

Evidence freshness

  • FATF monitored-jurisdiction status: current; data 2026-06-19
  • FATF mutual evaluation and follow-up ratings: current; data 2026-07-31
  • World Bank governance indicators: current; data 2024
  • UN, UK, EU and US sanctions regimes: current; data 2026-08-16

Contextual signals are public evidence only and do not change the immutable v2 score.

Download evidence PDF · CSV · JSON

Regional peer scores

FAQ

Is Afghanistan on the FATF grey list?

No. Afghanistan is not on the FATF grey or black list as of the 19 Jun 2026 plenary. FATF listing is one AML indicator; absence from the list does not by itself make Afghanistan low risk. The next FATF plenary review is scheduled for Oct 2026.

Is Afghanistan subject to sanctions?

Partly. Afghanistan has sectoral sanctions exposure rather than a comprehensive country-wide programme. Firms should screen applicable persons, entities and sectors against the OFAC, UK, EU and UN lists.

What is Afghanistan's country risk rating?

RegActions rates Afghanistan at 7.0/10 (Very high risk), where a higher score means higher country risk. The score combines financial crime controls, government effectiveness and rule of law, and international sanctions. Some information is unavailable, so the available parts are rebalanced and the country will not be labelled Low risk while information is missing. Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index scores Afghanistan 16/100 (rank #169 of 182).

What due diligence applies to Afghanistan?

Enhanced due diligence. This is decision-support based on Afghanistan's FATF status, governance and sanctions signals, and is not a substitute for a firm's own risk assessment.

Source: FATF black & grey lists · World Bank WGI (CC BY 4.0 — World Bank WGI) · TI CPI (CC BY-ND 4.0 — Transparency International, display only)