ISLAMABAD: Muslim nations on Sunday pledged to set up a fund to help Afghanistan stave off an imminent economic collapse, saying it would have “terrible” global ramifications.
At a special meeting of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Pakistan, the delegates also pledged to work with the United Nations to try to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen Afghan assets.
The promised fund will provide humanitarian aid through the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which will provide a cover to donate to countries without having to deal directly with the country’s Taliban rulers.
An OIC resolution issued after the meeting said that the IDB would lead the effort to free the aid by the first quarter of next year.
The meeting was the biggest on Afghanistan since the fall of the US-backed government in August and the return of the Taliban to power.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had already warned of chaos if the worsening emergency was not addressed immediately.
“Unless immediate action is not taken, Afghanistan is heading towards anarchy,” Khan told the OIC foreign ministers’ meeting in Islamabad.
The crisis is causing growing alarm, but the international response has been muted given the Western reluctance to help the Taliban government, which seized power in August.
Billions of dollars in aid and assets have been frozen by the international community, and the country is in the midst of a severe winter. Ikhan directed his remarks to the US, urging Washington to release desperately needed funds and drop preconditions for restarting Afghanistan’s banking system. ,
“I speak to the United States specifically that they should separate the government of Afghanistan from the 40 million Afghan citizens,” he said, “even though they may have been in conflict with the Taliban for 20 years.”
He also urged caution in linking the recognition of the new government to Western ideals of human rights.
“Every country is different… Every society has a different view of human rights,” he said.
contain the taliban
The OIC also resolved on Sunday to arrange for the involvement of a team of international Muslim scholars with the Taliban on issues such as “tolerance and moderation in Islam, equal access to education and women’s rights in Islam”.
No country has yet formally recognized the Taliban government and diplomats face the delicate task of providing aid to the stricken Afghan economy without backing hardline Islamists.
It urged the rulers of Afghanistan “to comply with obligations under international human rights contracts, particularly with regard to the rights of women, children, youth, the elderly and people with special needs.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said a deepening crisis could lead to widespread hunger, an influx of refugees and an increase in extremism.
“We cannot ignore the threat of a complete economic recession,” he told the gathering, which included representatives from the United States, China, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, along with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki.
Although the Taliban have promised a lighter version of the stricter rule, which characterized their first term in power from 1996 to 2001, women were largely excluded from government employment, and secondary schools for girls remained mostly closed. Huh.
Asked whether the OIC had pressured the Taliban to be more inclusive on issues like women’s rights, Qureshi said, “Obviously they think they are moving in that direction.”
“They are saying ‘let us decide in our own time’,” he said.
The OIC meeting did not give the new Taliban government the formal international recognition it desperately craves, and the new regime’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaki was left out of official photographs taken during the event.
However, Muttaki told reporters that his government “has a right to be officially recognized.”
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the only three countries that recognized the previous Taliban government.
The 31-point OIC was short on resolution specifications and did not provide any figures for financial support.
“There are many people who want to donate but don’t want to donate directly, they want some mechanism that they are comfortable with,” Qureshi said.
“This mechanism has been prepared, and now the pledge will be made. Obviously, they are aware of the importance of timing.”
The meeting was held amid tight security, with Islamabad under lockdown, barbed wire barriers and shipping-container barriers with ring-fences where police and soldiers are on guard.
‘Mere donation is not enough’
Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, warned that Afghanistan cannot survive on donations alone. He urged donor countries to show resilience, allowing their money to pay the wages of public sector workers and “supporting basic services like health, education, electricity, livelihoods, so that the people of Afghanistan can be helped this winter.” To get some chance and be given some encouragement through this. Stay at home with your families.”
In addition, Griffiths said, “we need constructive engagement with real executives to clarify what we expect from each other.”
He said Afghanistan’s crumbling economy required decisive and compassionate action, or “I fear this decline will bring down the entire population.”
Griffiths said that due to the rise in prices, families do not have the cash for everyday purchases such as food and fuel. Fuel costs have increased by about 40 percent, and most households spend 80 percent of their money only to buy food.
He presented some startling figures.
“Universal poverty could reach 97 percent of Afghanistan’s population. This could be the next grim milestone,” he warned. “Within a year, 30 percent of Afghanistan’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) could be completely could be lost, while male unemployment could double to 29 percent.”
Next year the United Nations will ask for $4.5 billion in aid for Afghanistan – the largest humanitarian aid request ever, he said.
As a message to the Taliban delegation, subsequent speakers, including Qureshi and Taha, emphasized the protection of human rights, especially the human rights of women and girls.
In an interview with The Associated Press last week, Muttaki said that Afghanistan’s new ruler is committed to the education of girls and women in the workforce.
Four months after Taliban rule, girls are still not allowed to attend high school in most provinces, and although women have returned to their jobs in the health care sector, many female civil servants have been barred from attending work. .
At the conclusion of the summit, Qureshi said that the OIC has agreed to appoint a special representative on Afghanistan. The 20 foreign ministers and 10 deputy foreign ministers present also agreed to establish a greater partnership with the United Nations to help desperate Afghans.
He also emphasized the critical need for the participants to open up Afghanistan’s banking facilities, which have been largely closed since the Taliban takeover on August 15. The Taliban has limited withdrawals from the country’s banks to $200 per month.
“We collectively feel that we have to unlock financial and banking channels as the economy cannot function and people cannot be put without banking services,” Qureshi said.
(with agencies)
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