ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani foreign office has said a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Corporation (OIC) later this month could help ‘galvanize’ other international powers in coming to the aid of neighboring Afghanistan, which is facing an acute humanitarian crisis.
Pakistan will host the 17th Extraordinary Session of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers on December 19 in Islamabad. The meeting’s focus is on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
The United States and other donors cut off financial aid on which Afghanistan became dependent during 20 years of war and more than $9 billion of the country’s hard currency assets were frozen.
The United Nations is warning that nearly 23 million people –- about 55 percent of the population –- are facing extreme levels of hunger, with nearly 9 million at risk of famine as winter takes hold in the impoverished, landlocked country.
The Pakistani foreign office spokesperson said on Friday the upcoming OIC conference was aimed at promoting “engagement of the international community to help address the challenges confronting Afghanistan.”
“We believe OIC’s leadership can help galvanize other international actors, and this Meeting will be a timely opportunity to consider practical arrangements and concrete steps to correspond to the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people,” the spokesman said at a weekly briefing.
On Friday, donors agreed to transfer $280 million from a frozen trust fund to the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF to support nutrition and health in Afghanistan, the World Bank said as it sought to help a country facing famine and economic freefall.
The World Bank-administered Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund will this year give $180 million to WFP to scale up food security and nutrition operations and $100 million to UNICEF to provide essential health services, the bank said in a statement.
The money would aim to support food security and health programs in Afghanistan as it sinks into a severe economic and humanitarian crisis that accelerated in August when the Taliban overran the country as the Western-backed government collapsed and the last US troops withdrew.
