Afghanistan crisis: Pakistan to hold OIC FMs’ meet on 19th

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday announced hosting an extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC countries on Dec 19 to highlight the need for urgent assistance and mobilisation of resources to avert a humanitarian crisis and economic collapse in Afghanistan.

“If we don’t pay timely attention, half of Afghanistan’s population or 22.8 million people can face food shortage and 3.2 million children may face malnutrition.

This is the magnitude which we and the world should understand,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a news conference here.

He said considering the gravity of the situation, Pakistan made an effort and moved ahead to host an international event realising if not addressed timely, the situation would have dire consequences for Afghanistan, its neighbours as well as the whole region.

He said the country could face an economic collapse if the frozen assets were not released to cope with the burgeoning needs.

He said such an extraordinary session of OIC FMs on Afghanistan would be held after 41 years with the first held in 1980.

He said besides the foreign ministers of the OIC countries, Pakistan had also invited special representatives of P-5 countries, including the US, China, Russia, France and the UK.

Moreover, the High Representative of the European Union on Foreign Affairs was also invited and that the invitation would also be extended to the World Bank and relevant UN agencies which could assist in the whole process.

Moreover, with a mere objective of evolving an international consensus, Pakistan would also invite important countries like Germany, Japan, Canada and Australia. —APP