The economic collapse of Afghanistan,
already teetering dangerously on the edge, would have a “horrendous” impact on
the region and the world, successive speakers warned Sunday at the start of a
one-day summit of foreign ministers from dozens of Islamic countries.

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The hastily called meeting of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Islamabad brought together dozens of
foreign ministers with the special representatives on Afghanistan of major
powers, including China, the US and Russia.

The gathering also included the UN undersecretary-general on humanitarian affairs as well as the president of the
Islamic Development Bank Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, who offered several
concrete financing proposals. He said the IDB can manage trusts that could be
used to move money into Afghanistan, jumpstart businesses and help salvage the
deeply troubled economy.

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The dire warnings called for the U.S. and
other nations to ease sanctions, including the release upward of $10 billion in
frozen funds following the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15.

Speakers also called for a quick opening of
the country’s banking system and collectively, with the United Nations and
international banking institutions, assistance to Afghanistan. Pakistan’s Prime
Minister Imran Khan directed his remarks to the U.S., urging Washington to drop
preconditions to releasing desperately needed funds and restarting
Afghanistan’s banking systems.

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Khan seemed to offer Taliban a pass on the
limits on education for girls, urging the world to understand “cultural
sensitivities” and saying human rights and women’s rights meant different
things in different countries. Still, other speakers, including the OIC chairman
Hussain Ibrahim Taha, emphasized the need for the protection of human rights,
particularly those of women and girls.

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The new Taliban rulers’ acting Foreign
Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was in attendance in the grand hall of the Pakistani
Parliament, where dozens of foreign ministers from many of the 57-nation OIC
had gathered.

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“This gathering is about the Afghan
people,” said Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who warned that
without immediate aid, Afghanistan was certain to collapse. He said it would
have “horrendous consequences,” not just in Afghan lives lost to starvation and
disease, but would most certainly result in a mass exodus of Afghans. Chaos
would spread, he predicted, and allow terrorism and the drug trade to flourish.