ISLAMABAD: Pakistan hoped that the forthcoming extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) on December 19 would help address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, besides preparing a ground for a possible international recognition of the Taliban government, which however is not the focus of the meeting.

A senior official of the Foreign Office said that invitations had extended to all the OIC member states, as well as the Permanent-5 of the UN Security Council and other major actors to attend the extraordinary session. “We [are] expecting a good number of participation in the meeting,” the official said, adding that intense diplomatic efforts were under way across the globe.

Asked what the problem in recognition of the Afghan government is when several countries have already reopened their embassies and many of the world powers are also engaged with the Taliban, he said the question of recognition had been raised many times, but that was not the focus and objective of the meeting.

He said the primary focus on which there was a consensus among the OIC and other international partners that humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan being an imminent challenge, needed to be addressed.

“The other questions with regard to recognition, peace and security, concerns about the human rights, there will be [discussions], and they are being discussed. Yes, the question of recognition is there, but it is not the focus of this session,” he added.

To another query as to whether the forthcoming OIC-CFM is seen to be a step closer towards international recognition or as window of engagement for Afghan government with the international community, he said: Would it be a step closer to recognition or would it be a window…? Yes, most likely, because in a way we are approaching the issue and trying to put together a framework for countries and help. But please bear this in mind; we are not going to achieve this. At this stage even if they think that recognition is important, which is [important], but what is more important is to help the people and to find humanitarian response to the situation in Afghanistan,” he said, adding the focus should be on the humanitarian issue.

On question about least effectiveness of the OIC in addressing the issues being faced by the Muslim world, the official said they rejected the “presumption”, saying “is not a correct way of understating the situations.”

“The fact is, if you pick up any organization, there are failures and there are successes. Every organization has achieved that. If we take the Afghanistan situation right now, is there any organization to which we can attribute success to? Is there any organization that you can attribute, be it the United Nations Security Council or otherwise?” he asked, adding the success was the function of member states’ political will and support which was the main objective of the meeting.

About the assistance and the pledges that are expected to be announced during the meeting, he said there was a whole range of ways in which the assistance was required and would be expected. “What we are looking at through this meeting is to not only encourage the members to come forward for making the pledges, but also to devise mechanism which will facilitate channelling this assistance to Afghanistan,” he said, adding the question of frozen assets was also there and it was hoped that many countries would also raise it during the meeting and it would also be part of the discussions.

How these finances will eventually reach the people of Afghanistan, another senior official said: “We are not only looking for merely a resolution to be passed at the conclusion, but we are looking for practical arrangements.”

Pakistan has invited 55 OIC member states, Special Representatives on Afghanistan of P5 Countries, Special Representatives on Afghanistan of Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany and Norway, Special Representatives on Afghanistan of UN agencies and the World Bank.

The official said Pakistan was also in contact to invite a high-level delegation from Afghanistan for the OIC session.

However, it is yet to decide that in what format Afghanistan would be attending the moot as the Afghan government had yet not been recognised by the OIC countries as well as the world community.

He said Afghan delegation would have an opportunity to engage with the international community and vice versa to make them understand the ground realities and their problems.

The first OIC CFM’s extraordinary session was also held in 1980, 41 years ago on the topic of Afghanistan, and now 41 years later another session is being held on Afghanistan.

The main purpose of the conference is to avert a looming humanitarian crisis by all means in Afghanistan. “If resources aren’t sent at the earliest and their economic conditions remain the same then the country is headed for a collapse of the system,” the official warned.

More than half of Afghanistan’s population, per UN records, is not having two meals a day.

Almost 3.2 million can suffer due to food shortages in days to come as per the UN records.

The purpose of the OIC meeting is to seek a solution to the looming Afghanistan humanitarian crisis.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021