Amidst calls for urgent help for Afghanistan that is faced with a dire humanitarian situation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday set up a Humanitarian Trust Fund and Food Security Programme for dealing with the rapidly aggravating crisis.
The 57-member Muslim bloc, which is also the world’s second-largest multilateral forum, in a communiqué adopted at the end of the extraordinary session of its Council of Foreign Ministers said it “will play a leading role in the delivery of humanitarian and development aid to the people of Afghanistan”.
The foreign ministers’ meeting had been convened to discuss and prepare a strategy for dealing with the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, whose more than half of the population, nearly 22.8 million people, was faced with an acute food shortage. It is estimated by the UN agencies that 3.2m children were at the risk of acute malnutrition.The OIC would set up Humanitarian Trust Fund and Food Security Programme, besides appointing the body’s Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Ambassador Tarig Ali Bakheet as special envoy of the OIC secretary general for Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced at a media conference at the end of the conference along with OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha.
Ahead of the meeting there were expectations that the participants of the forum would make pledges and agree on a financial vehicle for channeling assistance to Afghanistan that has been disconnected from the international financial system following the Taliban takeover because of sanctions against the new regime and collapse of the banking system. The absence of financial channels was making it difficult for donors to send relief money to Afghanistan.Other than Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan saying the kingdom would provide one billion Saudi riyals ($265 million) in assistance to Afghanistan and Mr Qureshi recalling that Pakistan had committed $30m for helping the Afghans, there were hardly any other pledges.King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) has launched a relief package for Afghanistan.
Under this initiative, initially 200 trucks loaded with 1920 tons of food and non-food items from Saudi Arabia left for Afghanistan via Pakistan.Each food package contains all necessary essential food items. The project will benefit about two hundred and eighty thousand people in Afghanistan.In non-food, ten thousand winter package comprises warm clothes for the needy families living in the colder regions of Afghanistan.
Talking to media on this occasion, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani said the distribution of 30,000 food packages and 10,000 non-food packages will help the poor and deserving people living in Afghanistan.Welcoming this humanitarian initiative of Saudi Arabia, he said such initiatives are of great importance to avert a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.The Chairman Senate urged the international community including developed countries to take such steps following the footprints of Saudi Arabia.He also reiterated Pakistan’s resolve to take all possible steps for helping Afghan people who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
