ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday urged Muslim countries to mobilize humanitarian aid and press Kabul to take verifiable steps against terrorism as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Afghanistan held its inaugural session on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
The Contact Group was established in December 2021 at an extraordinary session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad, convened after the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
Pakistan, which shares a 2,600-km border with Afghanistan and has hosted millions of Afghan refugees for decades, has consistently pressed the international community not to isolate Kabul. At the same time, relations between the two neighbors have been strained by a recent surge in militant attacks inside Pakistan, which authorities say are launched from Afghan territory. Kabul denies this.
“The OIC Group must advocate for adequate funding by the international donors to meet Afghanistan’s humanitarian aid requirements without any political considerations,” Pakistani foreign minister and deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar said in his speech, according to an official transcript.
The minister said OIC states should help stabilize Afghanistan’s economy and revive its banking system to create conditions for trade and regional connectivity. He also commended UN-led initiatives to support former poppy farmers with alternative livelihoods, urging the OIC to back these efforts.
Turning to security, Dar voiced “serious concern” over the presence of more than two dozen militant groups inside Afghanistan, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Balochistan Liberation Army, Majeed Brigade and East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which he said were collaborating with Al-Qaeda. Kabul says Pakistan’s security issues are an internal challenge and denies harboring militant groups.
“Our law enforcement officials and civilians continue to make enormous sacrifices to terrorism emanating from Afghanistan,” he said. “Earlier this month, 12 Pakistani soldiers were martyred in our bordering regions while combating TTP terrorist infiltrators from Afghanistan.”
Dar called on the Afghan interim authorities to take “concrete and verifiable action” to prevent their soil from being used for terrorism against neighboring countries.
He proposed the establishment of an OIC working group of experts to draw up a practical roadmap for progress “across the entire spectrum of issues faced by our brotherly country Afghanistan.”
The Pakistani deputy premier urged the Taliban to lift their curbs on women and girls’ education and employment, calling them “unjustified and contrary to Islamic principles and norms of Muslim society.” He said the OIC should work to persuade the Taliban to reconsider such policies.
On refugees, Dar said peace returning to Afghanistan should pave the way for millions of displaced Afghans to return home.
“The OIC Group must urge the Afghan interim authorities to create conditions necessary for facilitating the resettlement of Afghan returnees … and to ensure their integration into the political and social fabric of Afghanistan for lasting peace and stability,” he said.
