Riyadh, November 29, 2021, SPA -- The people of Afghanistan are facing a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis this winter. Millions of Afghan women, children, and elderly people are in need of immediate assistance, including access to food, medicine, and shelter. Impending economic collapse and further deterioration of living conditions will lead to more instability within Afghanistan, which will adversely affect regional and international peace and security. Guided by principles of Islamic solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as Chair of the Islamic Summit, and in-line with relevant OIC decisions on Afghanistan, called upon the OIC to, urgently, convene an Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting to discuss the humanitarian situation in the country and pathways for an urgent humanitarian response. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has offered to host this meeting, in Islamabad on 17 December 2021. The Kingdom looks forward to convening this urgent meeting and hopes that it results in finding appropriate means and mechanisms to deliver aid to the Afghan people, and to coordinate procedures with relevant UN agencies, international financial institutions, and the international community for the sake of mitigating the humanitarian impact and alleviating the suffering of the Afghan people. The Kingdom hopes this will also serve as an opportunity to demonstrate a collective stance on key principles. This includes the importance of taking steps to ensure Afghanistan’s security and stability and preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity, free from external interference, while rejecting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and ensuring that Afghan territory is not used as a refuge or safe haven for terrorist and extremist groups. This meeting should also urge the interim government in Afghanistan to be more inclusive, to abide by international norms and conventions, and to respect human rights and women’s rights to work and education granted in Islam. The Kingdom urges member states, international organizations, and invited countries to, actively, participate in this Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting, in order to mobilize Islamic and international action to help the people of Afghanistan. --SPA 17:22 LOCAL TIME 14:22 GMT 0019 www.spa.gov.sa/w1657640