Islamic Countries Meet To Address Afghanistan Humanitarian Crisis

At a special meeting in Pakistan of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), delegates said they would work "to unlock the financial and banking channels to resume liquidity and flow of financial and humanitarian assistance".

The meeting was the biggest conference on Afghanistan since the US-backed government fell in August and the Taliban returned to power.

Since then, billions of dollars in aid and assets have been frozen by the international community, and the nation is in the middle of a bitter winter.

An OIC resolution released after the meeting said the Islamic Development Bank would lead the effort to free up assistance by the first quarter of next year.

It also urged Afghanistan's rulers to abide by "obligations under international human rights covenants, especially with regards to the rights of women, children, youth, elderly and people with special needs".

Earlier, Pakistan warned of "grave consequences" for the international community if Afghanistan's economic meltdown continued, and urged world leaders to find ways to engage with the Taliban to help prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

Economic Meltdown

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the deepening crisis could bring mass hunger, a flood of refugees and a rise in extremism.

"We cannot ignore the danger of complete economic meltdown," he told the gathering, which also included Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as well as delegates from the United States, China, Russia, the European Union and the UN.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said the world needed to separate the Taliban from ordinary Afghans.

"I speak to the United States specifically that they must delink the Afghanistan government from the 40 million Afghan citizens," he said, "even if they have been in conflict with the Taliban for 20 years."

He also urged caution in linking recognition of the new government to Western ideals of human rights.

"Every country is different... every society's idea of human rights is different," he said.

-  AFP