OIC TO SET UP TRUST FUND FOR ONGOING ECONOMIC CRISIS IN AFGHANISTAN

Mon 20 December 2021:

Foreign ministers who attended the latest meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) agreed to establish a humanitarian trust fund to address the growing economic crisis in Afghanistan following the Taliban administration’s takeover after the United States’ withdrawal.

The fund will be set up under the Islamic Development Bank to channel aid to Afghanistan in coordination with other groups, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a news conference.

A final statement from the meeting said that allowing Afghanistan access to its financial resources would be pivotal to preventing economic collapse and said realistic pathways to unfreezing billions of dollars in central bank reserves should be explored.

Visuals from the National Assembly of Pakistan, hosting the extraordinary meeting of OIC #OICInPakistan pic.twitter.com/m9WExXQaAp

— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 19, 2021

Qureshi said the deepening crisis could bring mass hunger, a flood of refugees and a rise in terrorism.

“We cannot ignore the danger of complete economic meltdown,” 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 United Nations.

The meeting is the biggest conference on Afghanistan since the U.S.-backed government fell in August and the Taliban returned to power.

Since then, billions of dollars in aid and assets have been frozen by the international community, and the nation is in the middle of a bitter winter.

The 17th Extraordinary Session of #OIC Council of Foreign Ministers to discuss grave humanitarian situation in #Afghanistan begins in #Islamabad, #Pakistan. #OICInPakistan #OIC4Afg pic.twitter.com/wvirVLaRaX

— OIC (@OIC_OCI) December 19, 2021

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that Afghanistan is on the brink of the world’s worst humanitarian emergency with a combined food, fuel and cash crisis.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said the world needed to separate the Taliban from ordinary Afghans.

“I speak to the United States specifically that they must delink the Afghanistan government from the 40 million Afghan citizens,” he said, “even if they have been in conflict with the Taliban for 20 years.”

He also urged caution in linking recognition of the new government to Western ideals of human rights.

“Every country is different… every society’s idea of human rights is different,” he said.

I warmly welcome all delegates to Pakistan for the 17th Extraordinary Session of the @OIC_OCI Council of Foreign Ministers on Afghanistan, many of whom I had the pleasure of meeting today. We look forward to a constructive session tomorrow. #OICInPakistan #OIC4Afg pic.twitter.com/jrxcZS6BUK

— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) December 18, 2021

No nation has yet formally recognized the Taliban government and diplomats face the delicate task of channeling aid to the stricken Afghan economy without propping up the hardline Islamists.

Nearly all the opening speakers made mention of the Taliban’s need to protect the rights of minorities and allow women and girls access to work and education.

The OIC meeting was not expected to give the new Taliban government the formal international recognition it desperately craves.

Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said his government “has the right to be officially recognized.”

The 17th Extraordinary Session of OIC Council of Foreign Ministers is underway in National Assembly of Pakistan.

The key focus of this conference is to devise a strategy to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.#OICInPakistan #OIC4Afg pic.twitter.com/uBV4W8LMQ9

— Prime Minister’s Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) December 19, 2021

“The current Afghanistan government is cooperating with every foreign organization,” he told reporters, adding that sanctions “must be removed.”

In a speech to delegates, he said the U.S. freezing of assets “is a clear violation of the human rights of Afghans, and can be interpreted as enmity with an entire nation.”

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the only three countries to recognize the previous Taliban government.

Qureshi said the OIC was being asked to consider a six-point plan to help Afghanistan that would engage with Taliban authorities to help ease pressure on the country.

It would include coordinating aid, increasing investment, helping rebuild Afghan institutions and providing technical experts to manage the economy.

Any aid pledges were set to be announced Sunday evening.

The meeting is being held under tight security, with Islamabad on lockdown, ring-fenced with barbed wire barriers and shipping-container roadblocks where police and soldiers are standing guard.

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