The future of Afghanistan remains bleak with the international community, particularly the US being unmoved by the prevalent humanitarian crises in that country. Pakistan along with the World Bank and other aid agencies have urged the US, which holds access to most of the Afghan assets, to unfreeze the accounts of the war-torn country. The World Food Programme has warned that more than half of Afghanistan’s population is under the threat of acute hunger, which would kill more people than the harsh winter season. The stories coming from the war-ravaged country state harrowing tales of desperation where mothers are selling infant daughters in exchange for money. But despite that, the West remains steadfast in its demands for the Taliban to ‘do more’.
The US and its allies have made it clear that unless the Taliban regime that came back into power in August this year comes true to its promises of upholding human rights, particularly allowing women’s participation in the economy and girls education, it will not recognize its government or unfreeze the accounts needed to avert the crises. But they must realise that the people of Afghanistan – more than 40 million of them – have nothing to do with the conflict that they became party of. It was after all the haphazard exit of the US forces from Afghanistan that led to the crises the country is faced with today. It is then even more important for Washington to work towards averting the looming threat of humanitarian crises.
Islamabad has reiterated that the crises in Afghanistan will lead to destroying regional peace as it would give room for terrorist organisations to regroup and attack neighbouring countries. This will then lead to an influx of refugees that the world isn’t prepared for. It is this fear that has led to Pakistan hosting the upcoming meeting of foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Kabul on December 19 after 41 years – the first was held when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. This time around the situation is even more grave as it has called for permanent members of UN Security Council as well as Germany, Japan and representatives of international financial institutions to attend the moot. The world must come together to save the people of Afghanistan. The US must recognise that abandoning them would be a violation of the very human rights it wants the Taliban to uphold.
