OIC summit on Afghanistan underway in Islamabad

OIC summit on Afghanistan underway in Islamabad
An extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers to discuss the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan is currently underway at the Parliament House in Islamabad.

Envoys from 57 Islamic nations as well as observer delegations are participating in today's session. According to Radio Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan will deliver the key note address at the inaugural session.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud and OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha will also address the inaugural session, the report said.

"The extraordinary session is expected to pass a joint resolution. FM Qureshi and the OIC Secretary general will also address a news conference at the end of the moot," the report added.

On Sunday, the capital was on lockdown, ring-fenced with barbed wire barriers and shipping-container roadblocks where police and soldiers stood guard.

The foreign ministers of about 20 countries will attend the meeting, while 10 other countries are being represented by their deputy ministers. The rest have sent senior officials for the session.

Moreover, officials of the UN, global financial institutions, international and regional organisations and important non-OIC countries like Japan and Germany have also been invited.

No nations have yet formally recognised the Taliban government and diplomats face the delicate task of channelling aid to the stricken Afghan economy without also propping up the hardline group.

FM Qureshi said the meeting would speak “for the people of Afghanistan” rather than “a particular group”.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the only three countries to recognise the previous Taliban government of 1996 to 2001.

Qureshi said there was a difference between “recognition and engagement” with the new order in Kabul.

“Let us nudge them through persuasion, through incentives, to move in the right direction,” he told reporters ahead of the OIC meeting.

“A policy of coercion and intimidation did not work. If it had worked, we wouldn't have been in this situation.“

OIC moot to focus spotlight on Afghan issue: PM Imran

On Sunday, Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed the hope that the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the 57-member Muslim bloc would focus spotlight on humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

“I welcome delegations from OIC member states, observers, friends, partners and international organisations to Pakistan. The extraordinary session of OIC CFMs is an expression of solidarity with the Afghan people and to focus our collective energies on addressing the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan,” the premier said on Twitter.



source https://www.suchtv.pk/pakistan/general/item/110263-pakistan-hosting-oic-extraordinary-session-on-afghanistan-today.html

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