Pakistan is under heavy foreign debt to be paid back, according to given schedule, and its foreign reserves are not sufficient to pay back the loan instalments and also to pay for the necessary imports. Therefore, Pakistan had two options to resolve its balance of payments issue, either to raise the entire revenues through the collection of the tax by broadening the tax base and raising the tax or get a bailout package from the international financial institutions (IFIs), like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB). Pakistan decided to get the IMF bailout package, which has been agreed to equal to 6 billion US dollars to be paid to Pakistan over a period of three years. This agreement is subject to the approval by the IMF Board of Directors. This package contains some very tough conditions, like raising of Rs 5400 billion revenue (40 perecent higher than before) for the next budget year, which will exert a heavy burden on the people as the taxpayers. This condition has been kept despite the fact that the IMF has predicted very low economic growth rate (2.7 percent)in Pakistan during this year. This is something unusual. In the context of Pakistan getting bailout package from the IMF, in July 2018, the US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo had warned the IMF that the Trump administration will not allow it to lend US dollars to Pakistan for repaying China. Some political circles interpreted this as a message to Pakistan, that Washington might oppose its request for a bailout package from the IMF, and now it has been apprehended that the agreed upon package may not finally be approved by the IMF Board of Directors. Despite its sincere efforts in contributing positively towards ending terrorism and achieving peace and prosperity in the region, and the world, if Pakistan is still economically intimidated by the IMF and FATF This interpretation is being done in the light of US perceptions that China initiated BRI and CPEC are aimed at China’s power projection world wide that will ultimately change the world balance of power, although these projects are primarily economic oriented as described by the Chinese government. As far as Pakistan is concerned, it has joined the CPEC because of its expected positive impact on the economy, which is suffering from low growth cycle and needed a financial and a connectivity push to increase the growth rate and the exports. Like IMF’s tough conditions, Pakistan is also being kept in the grey list of the FATF, despite that it has done a lot in the context of tightening money laundering and terrorist financing. Pakistan is still under constant pressure that it can be moved to the blacklist, which can harm it economically, as blacklisted countries can be in difficulty in getting loans from the IFIs and may also be subjected to economic sanctions. Since India is a member of the Asia Pacific Group (AGP) of the FATF, that is supposed to assess Pakistan’s performance in countering money laundering and terrorist financing, it is playing a negative role by misguiding the APG members by blaming Pakistan for supporting terrorism. In this context, no action has yet been taken by the FATF on the Pakistan’s request that India should not sit in the group’s assessment meetings. This further increases Pakistan’s doubts about the FATF intentions about Pakistan. In view of the above discussion, it is hoped that the US will not get tough on Pakistan and will facilitate the approval of the agreed upon loan by the IMF Board of Directors and it will also use its influence in the FATF to recognize Pakistan’s sincere efforts being made in countering money laundering and terrorist financing and remove it from the grey list. Also Pakistan wishes to establish strategic friendly relations with the US. The US authorities should think that it is same Pakistan, which had secretly facilitated materialization ofthe US diplomatic contacts with China in 1970.Now, why should the US administration think that Pakistan being a friend of China can be hurting the US interests. In fact, Pakistan is still a US partner in the war on terror, which is evident from its contributions in making peace in Afghanistan by facilitating talks between the US and the Taliban. Therefore, it is expected that the US led IMF and FATF will not coerce Pakistan economically. However, despite its sincere efforts in contributing positively towards ending terrorism and achieving peace and prosperity in the region, and the world, if Pakistan is still economically intimidated by the IMF and FATF, then our political leaders should forge unity and use Pakistan’s own capacity to create required revenues by increasing taxes and through volunteer contributions to pay back the foreign debt and manage its economy. If such an eventuality arises, the people of Pakistan, if bravely led, have the resilience, courage and a spirit of sacrifice to contribute everything to ensure that Pakistan’s integrity, dignity and strategic power remain intact. The writer is an ex-Army Colonel, a former Research Fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Islamabad