Taliban travels to OIC summit in search of support

Kabul, Dec 18 (EFE).- Afghanistan’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Saturday headed to Islamabad for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit hoping to gather support to tackle his country’s severe economic and humanitarian crises.

“Given the current situation in Afghanistan, the OIC summit (scheduled for tomorrow) is very important,” the deputy spokesperson Ahmadullah Wasiq tweeted. “It is expected that the outcome will be in Afghanistan’s favor”.

The Taliban government sees the meeting as an opportunity to seek the international community’s support and reactivate funds that were suspended after Kabul fell to the militants in August.

After the extremists swept back to power, the international community imposed severe economic sanctions on Kabul, which threatens to worsen the humanitarian crisis with winter looming.

“We have good relations with the Islamic countries and we expect them to support the Afghan economy and raise voices for Afghan people rights which are the priority of Islamic Emirate,” Bilal Karimi deputy of Taliban spokesperson told Efe.

“We also expect strong diplomatic relations with Islamic countries, and to call on the international community to respect Afghan rights and release (…) funds,” he added.

It will be the first time that a Taliban delegation participates in an international meeting that will address the Afghan crisis since they came to power on 15 August. EFE

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