Forty-one years apart, Pakistan hosted the second Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday. Both sessions were ironically on Afghanistan but with contrasting reasons. The first was held in 1980 against the backdrop of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, leading to suspension of the country’s membership. This year, with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and subsequent freezing of the war-torn country’s accounts by the US, the OIC member states along with other powerful nations, including the EU and P5 countries, met to devise a strategic plan to help the Afghan people at the brink of survival.
During the meeting, a declaration of a ‘humanitarian fund’, operated by the Islamic Development Bank, to aid Afghanistan was made and a special envoy – Tarig Ali Bakheet – appointed to coordinate with Afghan and international stakeholders to avert the looming disaster in the war-torn country. The meeting was held as millions of Afghans face the harsh winter weather and acute hunger. UN Relief Chief Martin Griffiths present at the conference mentioned, “[Around] 23 million people are already facing hunger. Health facilities are overflowing with malnourished children. Some 70 percent of teachers are not getting paid and millions of children, Afghanistan’s future, are out of school.” Martin, who addressed the gathering on behalf of the UN secretary-general also stated that as per the UN Development Programme, 97 percent of the Afghan population could slip below the poverty line by June next year, if urgent steps were not taken. These are nightmare scenarios and the unanimous call by the OIC to look at the Afghan situation from a humanitarian perspective is much appreciated. It will help mitigate the people’s suffering in that country. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on the occasion also announced one billion riyals in aid for Afghanistan.
However, while the Muslim Ummah and international donor organisations are doing their best to highlight the plight of the Afghan people as well as providing aid, it is the US intervention that will avert the threat of humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country. Thirty-nine US Congressmen have already asked the Biden administration to release frozen Afghan assets as “no one benefits from a failed state in Afghanistan”. In the absence of recognition, even aid organisations are struggling to send the much-need humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. The US can use its power to ensure that the Taliban regime comes true to its promises, while providing for their people. The international community must rise up for the people, who have had no say on who governed them before or does today. Abandoning them is a human rights violation and will only give rise to more hatred and suffering.
