The organization of Islamic countries has summoned a meeting on the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan at the request of Saudi Arabia; Pakistan has requested to host this meeting on December 17 in Islamabad. As the representative of the Muslim world, OIC must come forward to help Afghan people when the world has closed its eyes on the Afghan situation. Afghans are going to face harsh winter. The issue of Afghanistan cannot be resolved by the Muslim community only. The scenes from Afghanistan are heart-wrenching.
The World Food Programs predicts that more than half of the population will face a food shortage after this month. Corona pandemic, internal conflicts and the lack of food will worsen the situation in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is going through harsh times, a lousy economy, hunger increase and worsened peace situation. The most devastating thing is the behavior of the world powers towards the Afghans. America and its allies are not going to accept the incumbent Taliban regime. On the other hand, the Taliban do not want to change their behaviors towards human rights, especially women.
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How can OIC help in Afghanistan’s crises?
America and its allies demand the Taliban alter their rigid stance about girls’ education, but the Taliban’s foot soldiers are not ready to accept this change. The United Nations agencies and NGOs can only facilitate local Afghans if they are exempted from the global sanctions against the resolution 1988. These sanctions stop the world monetary organizations from supporting Afghanistan. Therefore, humanitarians’ condition is going to worsen in the coming days. Riyadh has decided to use the OIC forum to discuss the Afghan crisis in this dismal condition. OIC has various institutions; Islamic Development Bank is the key example.
Islamabad has requested to host this meeting; Pakistan thinks the Afghan situation will disturb the internal position inside the country. After the change of regimes wave in the Arab world, OIC took a clear stance on conflicts in the Muslim countries, from Syria to Libya and from Kashmir to Myanmar. In this conference, the Muslim world will pledge to support Afghan people with money, food and medicine. But this platform must remind the responsibilities of US and European states towards Afghanistan. America has fought the longest war of US history in Afghanistan. The US and its allies could not win this war from the Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
The US has gone from Afghanistan militarily; it must support the United Nations relief agencies in Afghanistan. The US must unfreeze the Afghan money and allow the world financial institutions to help Afghans in this time of trouble. These actions from the American side would help stop the civil war and future terrorism activities in Afghanistan. The Taliban have taken over Kabul and become a reality in the political scene in Afghanistan. European states face a migration crisis, exposing their claim as a champion of human rights. At this moment, Islamabad and Tehran are only supporting Afghan people, but on the other side, all states have shut their borders.
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But, faced with a choice between hunger and migration, thousands of Afghans moved towards other states. Many will soon be reaching on the European doors_ a compelling factor for the European Union to take action. The Taliban must respect the teachings of Islam on the fundamental rights of girls and minorities and reject extremist and terrorist activities.
The writer is a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of International Relations, Government College University Faisalabad. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.