CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF OIC 17th EXTRAORDINARYSESSION COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS ONHUMANITARIAN SIT

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF OIC 17th EXTRAORDINARY

SESSION COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS ON

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN HELD IN

ISLAMABAD ON 19-12-2021

By Ahmad Sebtan Khan

INTRODUCTION

With the efforts of Pakistan 17th extraordinary session of the council of foreign ministers of OIC states comprising of a total of 70 delegates including Taliban & UN representatives,22 foreign ministers and 10 deputy foreign ministers from OIC states gathered in Islamabad on 19-12-2021 after 41 years in Pakistan with the same agenda for the solution of the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and economic chaos created by the freezing of Afghan assets, the collapse of the banking system, sanctions and non-recognition of Taliban government by world and

stoppage of foreign aid which was regularly administered for the previous Afghan government by the international community.

In this session not only member states committed to urgent help of 40 million Afghan citizens through the establishment of the Afghan trust fund but also stressed UN to assist in unfreezing of Afghan assets by the international community and the prime

Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan stressed upon the US that 40 million Afghan citizens should be

taken separately from Taliban rule and their support is our social, moral, and religious obligation otherwise in the case of complete chaos and economic melt-down of Afghanistan will not only badly impact Region but also be a threat to global peace and prosperity.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Foreign Minister of Pakistan being chaired for this session after

welcoming excellencies and honorable guests addressed to the session about the current situation in Afghanistan in which he told that over half Afghan population 22.8 million people a number larger than the entire population over ⅔ of the UN member states face food shortages, millions of Afghan children are at risk of dying of hunger and malnutrition; further explaining this situation is brought by drought, years of conflict, poor governance and Afghanistan’s excessive dependence on foreign aid.

In his speech, he recalled the first extraordinary session of OIC which was held in Pakistan in 1980 and 41 years ago Pakistan again obliged to host another extraordinary session to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the same country. He said that it is unfortunate the hardships and miseries of Afghan people are not eased. Shah Mehmood Qureshi FM of Pakistan admired the role of OIC by withstanding Afghan people for a long time

but also stressed upon the right of self-determination of people of Palestine and Kashmir

suffering under illegal occupations.FM Qureshi said that the World Food Program warned

Afghanistan may face the world’s biggest man-made crisis while the UN observes the Afghan economy as free fall.

He urged that it is a movement for the world to provide a collective helping hand unconditionally for Afghan people and provided 6 point working framework for Afghanistan in

which he suggested for investment in education, health, and technology in Afghanistan and

advised for the setup of the joint group of OIC and UN for granting banking access to Afghanistan, provision of food to people of Afghanistan and food security actions, anti-terrorism initiatives and anti-narcotics plan of actions, human rights in Afghanistan, and engagement of Afghan rulers for the women rights and joint plan of action for counter-terrorism in Afghanistan with a coalition of Afghan rulers.

Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud expressed his

concerns on Afghanistan and said that the economic chaos in Afghanistan can create human

the crisis leading to instability which can lead to regional and global instability and declared that

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is donating 1 Billion Saudi riyals for the welfare & relief of Afghan

people and highly stressed that the international community should support on humanitarian grounds to Afghan people.

OIC’s Secretary General Hussain Ibrahim Taha also stressed upon the support

of Afghan people and expressed that it is not a matter of today’s session but it will have historic effects. Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu while representing Asia group of OIC member states, Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi while representing Arab group of OIC member states, Niger foreign minister Yousuf Mohammad representing African group of OIC member states all of them expressed their concerns on growing economic crisis in Afghanistan while stressing upon urgent help of Afghan people but also highlighted the issue of Palestine and AL-Qudus for the better peace and prosperity.

The IDB president Salma Al-Nassar who was specially invited for this session proposed to manage a trust fund that will be a source to regulate money in Afghanistan and a platform to accept money from donee and donate it to Afghan people because many want to donate but not to Taliban. The special representative of UN Secretary-General Martin Griffits under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator hailed the efforts of Pakistan and OIC for timely

organizing of session on such a sensitive issue and affirmed that the UN will comply with the

decisions of OIC and try for the best of Afghan people. While addressing the session the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan emphasized on the US to separate Afghan people from Taliban rule and said that no one still recognized the Taliban government while only three countries previously recognized Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001; and said that no nation has suffered more than the Afghan nation, therefore it is the moral and religious duty of all the nations to help and support Afghan people otherwise if there is total economic melt-down in Afghanistan that would be biggest ever man-made humanitarian crisis of world and not only affect this region but can cause global disorder of peace and prosperity.

In this 17th extraordinary session of OIC FM Qureshi told the gathering in which US, UN, CHINA, RUSSIA, EU, and Taliban’s foreign minister Amir

Muttawakli was present alongside that we may not turn a blind eye to Afghanistan’s economic chaos. Moreover, the OIC meeting does not give any recognition to the Taliban government in Afghanistan, rather the foreign minister of the Taliban government Amir Khan Muttawakli was excluded from the group photo of this session. On other hand, the 31-points OIC resolution was too short on the specifics that it did not provide any mechanism for financial help. UN representative Martin Griffits warned Afghanistan will not survive only on financial assistance until there is proper functioning of the Afghan government.

However, the 17th extraordinary session ended with the joint manifesto of member states of OIC that:

1. Afghan trust fund will be established

2. Joint concerns on food security in Afghanistan

3. Economic and banking channels reinstatement consensus by OIC

4. Appointment of special representative of OIC for Afghanistan

5. Joint ventures of OIC & UN in Afghanistan

6. International community and UN should exclude schools and hospitals from sanctions in

order to help the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan

7. Follow-up meetings will be held in the future on jointly approved points of this session

CONCLUSION

The hosting of the OIC 17 extraordinary session was not beneficial for

Pakistan only but it has global impacts. Whether the issue of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan was on the top agenda of this session but the concerns related to Palestine & Kashmir issue are also delivered to the rest of the world. Hosting OIC’s extraordinary session in Pakistan after 41 years on short notice is not only an achievement of Pakistan’s foreign policy and diplomatic ties but it is also evidence that right now the geo-strategic and geo-political importance of Pakistan in the world’s affairs is touching skies. The OIC meeting was not for the recognition of Taliban rule but the main focus was 40 million Afghan citizens who need urgent humanitarian support. Although there are some ambiguities in the working framework and mechanism of financial help of people of Afghanistan as discussed in this session, a clear message and its consequences failure to withstand by Afghan people are properly delivered to the world so that no future terrorist incident would be linked with Afghanistan taken as an opportunity to attack any Muslim country on the name of providing safe havens to terrorists. All the participants in the OIC agreed to joint action and there is a hope for better future for Afghanistan instead of becoming a terror state.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

● Why was Pakistan uniting the Muslim ummah on Afghanistan Issue?

● Was the establishment of Pakistan forced by the Taliban to hold this extraordinary

session?

● Is there a new great game behind the current crisis in Afghanistan and zero response from

the western world?

● Will the future of Afghanistan be no more different than Iraq & Syria?

● Can the Taliban be a threat to the peace, stability, and security of Pakistan and the Region?