OIC leaders resolve to help unlock frozen Afghan assets

— Saudi Arabia pledges one billion riyal in aid

— Afghanistan teetering on ‘brink of disaster’

ISLAMABAD: The delegates of the OIC exclusive moot Sunday resolved to work with the United Nations to try to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen Afghan assets in a bid to tackle a growing humanitarian crisis.

The delegates of the specially convened meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers also vowed to play a leading role in delivery of humanitarian assistance to the people of war-torn Afghanistan.

The meeting of the 17th Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, held on the initiative of Saudi Arabia and hosted by Pakistan was attended by around 70 delegates from the member states, international aid agencies and special representatives.

The meeting unanimously agreed on establishing a Humanitarian Trust Fund, launch a Food Security Programme and engage with the World Health Organization for securing vaccines and medical supplies.

The unanimously adopted resolution brings a glimmer of hope for the 22.8 million people – more than half the population of Afghanistan – who face acute food shortage; while 3.2 million children and 700,000 pregnant and lactating women are at a risk of acute malnutrition.

The document adopted after day-long deliberations here at the Parliament building also expressed solidarity with the Afghans and reiterated the commitment of the OIC Member States to help bring peace, security, stability, and development to Afghanistan.

The extraordinary meeting was convened as the UN’s estimates warned that 60% of Afghanistan’s 38 million people face “crisis levels of hunger” and that the situation was getting worse every day. The OIC also expressed deep alarm at the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

The Council of Foreign Ministers also took into account the fact that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, has pointed that 665,000 people have been newly displaced within Afghanistan between January and September 2021 – in addition to the 2.9 million people already internally displaced by conflict in Afghanistan.

Expressing deep concern over the breakdown of Afghanistan’s health system, disease outbreaks and severe malnutrition, in particular in the face of Covid-19 pandemic, the OIC decided to establish a Humanitarian Trust Fund, under the aegis of the Islamic Development Bank; which would serve as a vehicle to channel humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan including in partnership with other international actors.

The Council of Foreign Ministers decided that the OIC General Secretariat, together with the Islamic Development Bank and Humanitarian Trust Fund, shall commence discussions with the UN system organizations to device a road map for mobilizing actions in relevant fora to unlock the financial and banking channels to resume liquidity and flow of financial and humanitarian assistance.

It would also devise a mechanism for the disbursement of urgent and sustained humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

In this regard the Islamic Development Bank was urged to expeditiously operationalize the Humanitarian Trust Fund by the first quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, the meeting called on the OIC Member States, the Islamic Financial Institutions, donors and other international partners to announce pledges to the Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan as well as to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

The meeting expressed deep alarm at the worsening economic situation in Afghanistan, which it pointed was further compounded by the continued freeze of overseas Afghan assets as well as other international assistance, exacerbating the urgent cash-flow problems, including payment of remuneration to public officials, and hindering the provision of essential public and social services to the people of Afghanistan.

PM warns of biggest man-made crisis in Afghanistan if world did’t act 

Addressing the participants, Prime Minister Imran Khan warned the world against brewing crisis in war-torn Afghanistan, saying that Washington must “delink” the Taliban government from the 40 million Afghan citizens who are suffering due to crisis situation.

“If the world doesn’t act now, this will be the biggest man-made crisis which is unfolding in front of us,” said the premier while delivering the keynote address at the 17th extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers convened to discuss the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan here at the Parliament House.

Envoys from 57 Islamic nations as well as observer delegations are participating in today’s session. The premier, who was the last to speak before the televised portion of the event concluded, began his speech by welcoming the participants to Pakistan.

Khan said that Afghanistan could potentially become the biggest “man-made crisis in the world” if the world did not act now.

“Forty one years ago, an extraordinary session of the OIC was held in Pakistan to discuss the situation in Afghanistan,” he told the gathering, which also included Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi alongside delegates from the United States, China, Russia, the European Union and UN.

PM Imran said that the OIC also had a “religious duty” to help the Afghans.

“They (US) have been in conflict with the Taliban for 20 years but this [concerns] the people of Afghanistan,” he said, adding that it was important to take immediate action.

He noted that the Taliban had to fulfill the commitments they had made to the international community, which included forming an inclusive government and ensuring women’s rights.

“[However], the idea of human rights is different in every society,” he said, giving the example of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders the war-torn country.

“The city culture is completely different from the culture in rural areas […] we give stipends to the parents of the girls so that they send them to school. But in districts bordering Afghanistan, if we are not sensitive to the cultural norms, then they won’t send them to school despite receiving double the amount. We have to be sensitive about human rights and women rights,” he said.

He reiterated that Afghanistan was headed for chaos unless the world took immediate action. Such a situation will not suit the US because “chaos means the inability to fight terrorism,” he said, adding that Pakistan also faced a threat from ISIL (Daesh).

PM Imran said that Pakistan was currently housing over three million refugees, adding that country was also providing shelter to more than 200,000 refugees who had overstayed their visas.

“The situation in Afghanistan means they can’t go back. We are already suffering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are not in a position to deal with a influx of refugees.”

He questioned how poorer countries, that were still struggling to get their economic back up, would be able to cope with an influx of refugees.

Addressing the participants, the premier said he was impressed by the suggestions put forward by Islamic development banks for providing immediate assistance.

“I look forward to the fact that you will come up with a road map by the end of this evening,” he said, reiterating that “chaos in Afghanistan suited no one”.

Pakistan proposes six-point roadmap 

Pakistan proposed a six-point strategy — ensuring food security, reviving the national economy and building institutional capacity to counter terrorism — to address the looming economic and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and enhance its ability to tackle the growing threat of militant violence.

In his opening address at the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi proposed a vehicle within the 57-nation bloc to sustainable humanitarian and financial support to the war-ravaged nation.

The emergency in Afghanistan, with millions facing hunger as winter sets in, has caused mounting alarm, but the international community has struggled to come up with a coordinated response given Western reluctance to help the Taliban government, which assumed power in August.

Convened by chair Saudi Arabia — and hosted by Pakistan — to discuss the crises in Afghanistan, the session is being attended by 20 foreign ministers, 10 deputy foreign ministers and delegates from about 70 nations.

Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is among the delegates, alongside others from the United States, China, Russia, Germany, the European Union and the United Nations.

Qureshi called for increasing the investment, bilaterally or through the OIC platform, in the education and skill training of the Afghanistan public.

He proposed the establishment of an expert group of OIC and the United Nations to consider ways and means to ensure the revival of the banking service in that country.

The foreign minister also called for enhanced engagement with Afghanistan to bring in political and social inclusivity besides ensuring respect for human rights particularly women’s rights.