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Pakistan to host 2nd extraordinary OIC meeting on Afghanistan
Pakistan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that Islamabad will host the 2nd extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Afghanistan and that the focus will again be on the challenges facing the country.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister said at a press conference on Tuesday that the OIC meeting is scheduled to start next Tuesday and will run over two days.
He said the focus of the meeting would be on the current economic, political and humanitarian challenges in Afghanistan.
“Members of the Islamic countries will assess their commitments for Afghanistan, and will assess their decisions, also will talk about next steps,” said Qureshi.
According to Qureshi the main aim of the meeting is to forge unity, solidarity and cooperation between Islamic countries.
“The aim of the meeting, in addition to addressing the political, economic, and humanitarian challenges of Afghanistan, is to establish a bridge of relations and strengthen partnerships and cooperation between Islamic countries. Its message is solidarity and cooperation between the Islamic countries,” added Qureshi.
The first extraordinary meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was held in December last year in Islamabad and Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting foreign minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), attended.
According to the IEA’s deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi, all meetings that are in the interests of Afghans are welcomed. However, he said the IEA has not yet been informed about next week’s OIC meeting.
In addition to the OIC meeting, another two are reportedly planned for later this month. One will be held in China and the other in Switzerland.
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Girls’ education is a ‘vital issue’ for Afghanistan: Karzai
Former president Hamid Karzai said in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and special representative, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, that education of girls was a “vital issue” for Afghanistan.
Karzai said he appreciated Iran’s cooperation and its standing with the Afghan people, especially Iran’s contributions to education in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Karzai said peace and stability in the region are in the interest of all regional countries.
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Uzbekistan’s humanitarian aid arrives in Balkh
A shipment of humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan was handed over on Thursday to the local officials of Balkh province in the trade port of Hairatan.
Local authorities said the aid, which includes flour, oil, wheat, sugar and meat, has been handed over by Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya governor to the governor of Balkh.
The governor of Surkhandarya stated the purpose of sending this aid was to support the people of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the development of good relations between the two countries.
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Afghanistan’s problems caused more damage to Pakistan than 3 wars with India: Durrani
Islamabad’s special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that Pakistan has suffered more due to Afghanistan’s internal situation than Pakistan has suffered in three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained.
Durrani said at a one-day International Conference titled “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, which was organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), that over 80,000 Pakistanis died in the two decades of the War on Terror and that his country was still counting its dead and injured.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived,” he said.
He also stated that attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 percent, while suicide attacks increased by 500 percent.
“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan. Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks,” he said.
Durrani also said Pakistan had suffered geopolitically since the Soviet Union invaded the neighboring country.
“The post-9/11 world order has negatively impacted Pakistan. Apart from losing 80,000 citizens’ lives, including 8,000 law enforcement agency personnel, the country’s economic opportunity cost is estimated at $150 billion,” Durrani said.
Talking about the future outlook for Pakistan in the regional context, Durrani said that while “our eastern neighbor is likely to continue with its anti-Pakistan pursuits, the western border poses an avoidable irritant in the short to medium term.”
However, he said Pakistan can overcome its difficulties with Afghanistan, including the TTP challenge.
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