It was reported that Muslim countries have pledged to assist Afghanistan in freeing its seized assets. The pledge was made recently during a special meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Pakistan. The delegates said that they would unlock the financial and banking systems to re-establish liquidity and the flow of financial and humanitarian assistance. The gathering was the largest since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan following the fall of the US-backed government in August. Since then, Western countries have frozen billions of dollars in aid and assets. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) stated that the Islamic Development Bank will lead the drive to free up assistance by the first quarter of next year. It also encouraged Afghanistan’s government to follow international human rights treaties, especially on the rights of women, children, adolescents, the elderly, and individuals with special needs. Pakistan asked world leaders to work with the Taliban to avoid a humanitarian disaster. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said that it would send a group of worldwide Muslim scholars to meet with the Taliban to discuss matters such as tolerance and moderation in Islam, equal access to education, and women’s rights in Islam. The Pakistani Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the worsening situation in Afghanistan might result in widespread famine, a flow of refugees, and a rise in extremism. In Afghanistan, women are excluded from government work and secondary schools for girls have largely remained closed, despite the Taliban’s promise of a softer version of the rigid rule that characterized their first term in power from 1996 to 2001.
Source: Viewers Corner News.