Daily Times

Hosting the extraordinary meeting of OIC for the second time is a matter of honour for Pakistan but it also gives a strong sense of bitterness since the previous session was also convened over Afghanistan’s crisis back in 1980. Why could the world not find a sustainable solution for the problems of Afghanistan in over four decades? How did OIC remain mostly irrelevant from Afghanistan during the peak eras of Russian intervention and US-led military campaigns? Though reasons for Afghanistan’s worsening deterioration are quite obvious, the existing global order cannot fix the specific responsibilities on major powers who played havoc with repeated interventions.

After Afghanistan, it is Pakistan that has borne the maximum damages of spillover effects in the form of refugee influx and terrorism. Pak PM very rightly forewarned the world about the looming consequences of further delay in aiding the Afghan masses against the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis. In the fog of chaos, a larger consensus to avert the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan during an extraordinary session of OIC has come as a much-needed ray of hope. The significant lead role of Pakistan on this account is a reflection of real hard work on the right lines. Expectations are high as the optics of consensus need to be transformed into concrete practical measures. The speech of the Islamic Development Bank Chairman during the inaugural session offered encouraging potential avenues to accelerate a purposeful sustainable financial support mechanism to stabilise Afghanistan.

Stability in Afghanistan is a kind of prerequisite for regional peace but Islamabad cannot delink this factor from its national security.

The presence of the UN’s undersecretary for relief operations in the summit was another positive reflection on the unity of cause among global organizations. Positive decisions about support funds and sustenance of the banking system will remain pleasantly-worded proposals unless executed through precise supervision. The appointment of the OIC’s Secretary-General for Afghanistan is primarily meant to exclusively focus on the coordination of humanitarian assistance efforts. As is evident from recent developments, Pakistan is doing the best possible for the betterment of its Afghan brethren. Unfortunately, the thin line between humanitarian assistance for common Afghan masses and the formal recognition of the Taliban’s IEA is either misunderstood or misinterpreted by most critics. While rendering all possible assistance to Afghanistan on humanitarian grounds, Pakistan is still standing with the global community on the issue of recognising the government of the Taliban.

Pakistan has no favourites in Afghanistan. Therefore, in the pre-15th August scenario, Islamabad made multiple sincere efforts to pave way for peace through negotiations. Unfortunately, the ill-intended response of the Ashraf Ghani regime eventually led to the failure of all positive initiatives. Taliban’s arrival in Kabul was an accumulative outcome of Doha’s deal with the US and the failure of the Ghani regime on multiple fronts. Ex-President Hamid Karzai and Ghani’s NSA Hamdullah Mohib have recently spilled a few beans on the mysterious fall of Kabul; drawing direct aspersions on the role of the US. The irking issues of hasty withdrawal and fall of Kabul to Taliban are likely to be investigated through a commission in the US as endorsed by the senate in the recently approved defense budget. So why do the critics always hurriedly scapegoat Pakistan for those failures of the US, which have not yet been appropriately investigated by the American state institutions?

Whenever Pakistan takes a lead in stabilising Afghanistan, the spoiler forces fabricate an impression about negative interference from Islamabad. The ground reality is the opposite because terrorist outfit TTP, along with its splinter groups, is challenging the writ of state and constitutional order of Pakistan from Afghan soil. While the Afghan Taliban are struggling to earn international legitimacy, Pakistan is primarily concerned about the security threats emanating from TTP having its secured bases in Afghanistan. Stability in Afghanistan is a kind of prerequisite for regional peace but Islamabad cannot delink this factor from its national security.

The existence of foreign-sponsored proxies on Afghan soil poised against Pakistan or any other neighbor would prove catastrophic not only for the region but for Afghanistan and its present ruling regime. It is expected that the Taliban will not repeat the Ghani regime’s follies of turning a blind eye towards anti-Pakistan terrorist groups headed by TTP. Pakistan has been continuously playing its part for the betterment of the masses of Afghanistan. These humanitarian efforts have nothing to do with the policies being adopted by the Taliban amid their prevailing deadlock with the west revolving around human rights issues. The extraordinary summit of OIC on Afghanistan’s looming humanitarian crisis in Islamabad has emerged as a powerful indicator of Pakistan’s well-intended efforts for regional peace and stability. The participation of representatives of P-5 nations, EU, Germany, and the UN have given global validation to Pakistan’s principled stance on Afghanistan as well as regional peace. What matters after the OIC meeting has to be correctly figured out by the stakeholders?

Right-paced acceleration by OIC on this sensitive issue will be the key to successfully averting the crisis in Afghanistan. As evident from sideline meetings, the Taliban also got a valuable chance to interact with global players to plead their case and comprehend the perspective of the world about them. Other than humanitarian assistance for Afghan people, Pakistan neither intends nor is bound for any advocacy in favor of the Taliban’s policies. Pak PM rightly suggested the world especially the US to delink the Taliban from Afghan people while considering the issue of frozen assets. New Delhi is also uncomfortable over the Pak-KSA-led OIC initiative on Afghanistan as evident from of proportion exaggerated comparison of Indo-Central Asia Dialogue with the globally acknowledged OIC summit. Already irked on the loss of space in Afghanistan, the Modi regime received an additional shock once Pak PM bracketed Kashmir unrest with the Islamic world’s common concerns on issues of Palestine, Islamophobia, and blasphemy.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at sikandarnoorani@yahoo.com