Formed: 13 February 1996;

Founded by: Mufti Mohammad Rashid;

Headquarters in: Pakistan;

Activities:

Operations in Afganistan: Herat, Jalalabad, Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar, Sherif, also operations in Kosovo, Chechnya;

Al Rashid Trust had been raising funds for the Taliban since 1999. The Al Rashid Trust is a group that funded al Qaida and the Taliban and is also closely linked to the al Qaida-associated Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group.

Al Rashid has been directly linked to the January 2002 abduction and subsequent murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. According to an article appearing in the Wall Street Journal, on or about January 31 or February 1, 2002, citing Pakistani police, a man named Saud Memon drove into the compound where Daniel Pearl was being held, along with three Arabic-speaking men. The compound was owned by Mr. Memon, a garment manufacturer, and was located in the northern outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan. Eventually, the three Arabic-speaking men, along with one of Mr. Memon’s employees, were left alone with Daniel Pearl in one room of the compound. One of these men turned on a video camera, and another asked Mr. Pearl questions about his religious background. After the videotaped statement by Mr. Pearl, he was blindfolded and killed.

Shortly after the murder, Pakistani police sealed Mr. Memon’s home in Karachi, which also contained his garment business. Mr. Memon remains one of the key figures still at large in the Pearl slaying. Photos of him along with other alleged conspirators have been published throughout Pakistan, and a reward has been offered for information leading to their arrest.

According to the article, Mr. Memon is a known financier for militant groups in association with the Al-Rashid Trust, which is described in the article as having changed its name to Al-Akhtar Trust. Reportedly, an individual by the name of Al-Saud Memon is the individual primarily responsible for the Al-Akhtar Trust’s finances and the direction of financial resources and support for the Trust.

Al Rashid and other fronts and groups have used a British internet site called the Global Jihad Fund, which openly associates itself with Osama bin Laden, to publish bank account information and solicit support to facilitate the growth of various jihad movements around the world by supplying them with funds to purchase their weapons.

In July 2008, the United States identified new aliases: Al Ameen Trust, Al Amin Welfare Trust, that Al Rashid used to circumvent sanctions so that it could continue to support al Qaida.