OIC seeks to aid Afghan people
Experts hail Islamic nations’ show of solidarity to help alleviate Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis
Agathering of foreign ministers of Islamic nations in Pakistan this week has called for the unity of the Islamic world to deal with common problems, including providing assistance to war-torn Afghanistan.
The 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) kicked off in Islamabad on March 22 and concluded the next day. The meeting’s discussions on Afghanistan, and the setting up of a trust fund a day earlier — to collect resources for humanitarian aid and the nation’s rebuilding efforts — were welcomed by the participants and hailed by analysts.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said in his keynote speech that it is important to help Afghanistan, which has suffered a years-long conflict, and remove sanctions on the nation for avoiding a humanitarian crisis and fighting terrorism.
Under the theme of “Building Partnerships for Unity, Justice and Development”, among topics discussed at the two-day session were global and regional landscapes, sustainable development and climate change, according to the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan.
OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said efforts should be made to bring stability to Afghanistan, adding that Muslim countries should continue providing financial support to the Central Asian nation.
During the meeting, “hopefully more pledges on Afghanistan would be made, and those pledges that were made before can be instrumentalized to help with the situation” of the conflict-battered nation, said Amina Khan, director of the Centre for Afghanistan, Middle East and Africa at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad.
Also in Islamabad, the day before the meeting, the OIC and the Islamic
Development Bank (IsDB) signed the Charter of the Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan to raise donations for the country’s humanitarian crisis. The signing ceremony signaled the fund’s coming into effect, according to OIC News.
Taha and IsDB President Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser inked the charter witnessed by Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said a statement from the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan.
Qureshi, addressing the signing ceremony, said the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan warranted urgent action, and called on OIC members, Islamic financial institutions, donors and other international partners to make donations to the trust fund.
Mehmet Rakipoglu, a Gulf and Middle East expert at Sakarya University’s Middle East Institute, said the fund can “directly help Afghanistan in a positive manner”.
The fund was set up by a resolution of the 17th extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in December. Under the IsDB’s supervision, it serves as a mechanism to send continuous humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, in connection with other international players, OIC News reported.
In October, the United Nations said it had established a special trust fund to provide urgently needed cash directly to Afghans via a system that makes use of donor funds frozen since the Taliban’s takeover.
Arhama Siddiqa, Middle East and North Africa expert and research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, said that as Afghanistan is often called the Heart of Asia, a stable Afghanistan is the need of the hour, “not only for the entire region, but by domino effect, the world at large”.
She regards this fund’s establishment as an important facet of Pakistan’s chairmanship of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in 2022.
The fund “takes on a comprehensive approach in that its prime objective is to induce economic self-reliance in the Afghan people, by targeting various sectors which include the agricultural sector and revamping of small and medium-sized enterprises,” she said.
However, for the initiative to function, the Taliban also needs to deliver on its promises, especially in terms of the inclusion of women, Siddiqa said. “Undoubtedly, it is a first, pivotal step which will hopefully pave the way for unhindered humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to provide much needed functionality and stability,” the academic noted.
The OIC secretary-general praised the work of the IsDB Group, whose president emphasized its commitment to support the Afghan people and asked member countries and international partners to make contributions in support.
Also during the meeting, Taha indicated he will engage in talks with the Taliban and other stakeholders in Afghanistan, as well as global partners, for peace, security and development in the country.