ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is playing an extremely important role in alleviating the humanitarian crisis and avoiding the socio-economic collapse in Afghanistan, said Chinese scholar Cheng Xizhong, visiting at Southwest University of Political Science and Law.
“The international community should fully recognize Pakistan’s crucial role in maintaining regional peace and stability,” said the Chinese scholar told Gwadar Pro yesterday.
Prof. Cheng believes that Pakistan’s important role on the Afghan issue is mainly reflected in the aspects:
He said that despite its own COVID-hit economy and natural disasters, Pakistan generously announced Rs 5 billion in-kind humanitarian aid for Afghanistan including food commodities, emergency medical supplies, winter shelters and other supplies besides allowing 246,144 new Afghan refugees to enter Pakistan.
The country is already hosting over three million Afghan refugees.
Pakistan has urgently appealed to the international community to actively participate in alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Pakistan timely initiated the convening of the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC, which deepened the international community’s understanding of the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and gathered the consensus of the international community on the need to take urgent measures to avoid the socio-economic collapse of Afghanistan.
The United Nations’ largest-ever $5 billion funding appeal, the US additional aid of $308 million and over $1 billion pledge from the European Union indicate the success of Pakistan’s repeated calls for the world to help avert looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
The Chinese scholar also said that Pakistan is exploring the fundamental way to solve the Afghan issue. All external assistance can only temporarily alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, but to fundamentally solve the socio-economic problems facing Afghanistan, the international community should help Afghanistan cultivate its own self-reliance capacity.
