Pakistan to host OIC meet on humanitarian needs of Afghanistan

Pakistan on Friday said the foreign ministers of Muslim countries in their upcoming meeting would consider concrete measures to help the people of Afghanistan. Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said at the weekly briefing that Pakistan is looking forward to hosting the 17th Extraordinary Session of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation OIC, Council of Foreign Ministers, on December 19 in Islamabad to focus on the serious humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

Pakistan on Friday said the foreign ministers of Muslim countries in their upcoming meeting would consider concrete measures to help the people of Afghanistan. Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said at the weekly briefing that Pakistan is looking forward to hosting the 17th Extraordinary Session of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Council of Foreign Ministers, on December 19 in Islamabad to focus on the serious humanitarian situation in 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,” he said.

He said P5 countries (Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) have also been invited for the moot which would be the first big international gathering to discuss the Afghan problem since the Taliban took over in August. The meeting has been called by Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan offered to host it. The spokesperson also clarified Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks that “we are not part of any bloc” and said that this has been a consistent and longstanding policy of Pakistan. “We have always maintained this principled opposition to the concept of bloc politics,” he said. To a question about Pakistan skipping the Summit for Democracy, he said that Pakistan was closely engaged with the US on a range of issues. “We value our partnership with the US and we wish to expand it bilaterally as well as in terms of regional and international cooperation,” he said. There have been exchanges recently that include the delegation led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Congressman Gregory Meeks, according to the spokesperson, who added that “another delegation arriving tonight led by Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Senator (Angus) King, all is reflective of continuing, cooperative exchanges with the US”.