Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Muslim countries decided to work with the United Nations (UN) to help Afghanistan. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will try to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen Afghan assets by the West and the global community, in order to address the humanitarian crisis that has begun to emerge in the country.
“At a special meeting in Pakistan the 57-member OIC delegation said they would work to open financial and banking channels to continue liquidity and the flow of financial and humanitarian aid (to Afghanistan),” it wrote. AFP citing the meeting, Sunday (12/19/2021).
“The OIC also urges Afghan rulers to comply with obligations under international human rights treaties, especially with regard to the rights of women, children, youth, the elderly and people with special needs,” the media added. again citing the same meeting.
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan again last August. Since then billions of aid and assets have been frozen by the international community due to distrust of the Taliban.
Afghanistan has at least $9 billion in reserves in the United States (US). The country also has US$ 431 million in central bank reserves held in Commerzbank and about US$ 94 million in the Bundesbank, Germany and US$ 660 million in Switzerland.
During the OIC meeting, Pakistan warned of grave consequences for the world if Pakistan’s economic crisis continued. The country is asking world leaders to find ways to engage with the Taliban to help avoid disaster.
“We cannot ignore the danger of total economic collapse,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, saying a deepening crisis could lead to mass starvation, a refugee ‘flood’ and a rise in extremism.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan says the world needs to separate the definition of Taliban with ordinary Afghans. He also asked Western countries, especially the US, to understand this.
“Even if they have been in conflict with the Taliban for 20 years,” he said. “Every country is different…every society’s idea of human rights is different.”
So far, no country has officially recognized the Taliban government. Diplomats face the difficult task of delivering aid to Afghanistan’s crisis-hit economy without propping up the hardline Islamist group.
A former head of Afghanistan’s central bank had said that at least the country needed $150 million a month serially. This is to prevent crises, maintain currency values, stabilize prices.
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