Pakistan has proposed to host the foreign ministers of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) next month to discuss the “serious humanitarian situation” in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in mid-August.
“Pakistan supports the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s initiative as OIC Summit Chair to convene an Extraordinary Session of the…Council of Foreign Ministers, on Afghanistan and we have offered to host the Session in Islamabad on 17 December,” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi tweeted on November 29.
The OIC foreign ministers’ meeting will likely be the biggest international gathering on Afghanistan since the Taliban toppled the internationally backed government in Kabul on August 15.
Humanitarian agencies and human rights groups are increasingly raising the alarm that the war-torn country is slipping into a dire humanitarian crisis, with more than half of its population at risk of not having enough to eat during the coming winter.
SEE ALSO: 'We Are Hungry': Afghan Schools Left Without Teachers As Instructors Struggle To SurviveThe Afghan economy has ground to a near halt due to a disruption in most aid and restrictions on the banking system put in place by the international community, which has not recognized the Taliban regime over human rights issues and a lack of inclusivity in its cabinet.
In a statement, Qureshi expressed confidence that the planned OIC meeting will “consider concrete steps to help address the humanitarian and economic challenges facing Afghanistan.”
“We should step up our collective efforts to alleviate the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people, provide immediate and sustained support to them, and continue to remain engaged with them for the well-being and prosperity of Afghanistan,” the minister said.
Islamabad has urged the United States and other governments to allow development assistance to flow into Afghanistan, and called for an unfreeze the billions of dollars of assets that Afghanistan's central bank holds overseas.