Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) hosted a meeting of International Contact Group (ICG) on Afghanistan in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Feb 28, 2017, where representative of 50 countries and international organizations had participated. The main issue discussed in the meeting was security and stability in Afghanistan.
An Afghan delegation headed by the Afghan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Political Affair Hekmat Khalil Karzai also participated in this meeting. In his speech, Karzai said that the Afghan government had undertaken some reforms which could help achieve peace in Afghanistan. Moreover, in this conference it was announced that the International Conference of Muslim Ulema on peace and stability in Afghanistan will also be held in a near future and will be hosted by Saudi Arabia.
In this part of the analysis, besides introduction of International Contact Group, you will read about the outcomes of its recent meeting on Afghanistan and the scheme of holding International Conference of Muslim Ulema and its efficiency for peace and war in Afghanistan.
International Contact Group (ICG)
ICG was formed in 2008 under auspices of Germany and based on the suggestion of Richard Holbrooke, the former envoy of the US for Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are more than 50 countries in this group and the special representatives of the presidents of countries that help Afghanistan are present ICG and its meeting are organized by the foreign ministries of member states.
The group holds three to four meetings annually and its fundamental aim is to facilitate coordination between the special representatives of the countries for Afghanistan, in order to discuss important issues on Afghanistan. In the ICG meetings, they usually discuss the achievements of Afghanistan and international community in various fields and the participants do not make direct promises of financial aids.
The 20th Conference of ICG
OIC and Afghanistan jointly hosted the 20th meeting of ICG in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Representatives of High Peace Council (HPC) and National Security Council (NSC) of Afghanistan had also taken part in the meeting.
Generally, the conference discussed the political, security and economic situation of Afghanistan but rather focused on the peace process. The General Secretariat of OIC announced in this conference that a meeting of Muslim Ulema will be held in the upcoming months to discuss the issue of Peace and stability in Afghanistan. It is a meeting that Afghanistan expects would announce the war against the Afghan government as illegal and encourage the Taliban to join the peace process.
Unlike the past, the Afghan delegations’ rhetoric statements regarding negotiations with the armed oppositions was different. The Afghan delegation called the armed opposition as the “cruel” enemies of the Afghan men, women and children and emphasized that they would protect Afghans against these groups.
In addition, in this conference, the participants stressed on the joint strategy between the countries in the region to fight against “terrorism”, because improvement in the security situation in Afghanistan would result in the growth of economy, trade and transit in the region which is in the best interests of all countries of the region.
Efforts by the government to hold the International Conference of Muslim Ulema
The Afghan government rejects the Taliban’s religious call on Afghans to fight against “foreigners’ occupation” of the country, but in the meanwhile has realized the importance of religious fatwas and, therefore, has always strived to organize a conference of Muslim Ulema in order to religiously denounce the current war in Afghanistan.
During Karzai’s Presidency, with the help of Islamic countries particularly Saudi Arabia, the Afghan government made efforts to organize an International Conference of Muslim Ulema but these efforts did not meet the desired outcomes.
After the formation of the National Unity Government (NUG) in Afghanistan, this government also followed these efforts. Ghani traveled to Saudi Arabia thrice and also released a statement in support of Saudi Arabia in Yemen war and joined the anti “terrorism” coalition under the leadership of Saudi Arabia. In addition, the Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs officially demanded from the Secretary General of OIC Iyad bin Amin Madani to hold this conference.
The Afghan Chief Executive also raised the issue of organizing a conference of Muslim Ulema in his visit to Saudi Arabia in October 2016.
Finally, in the recent conference of ICG it was announced that the International Conference of Muslim Ulema would be held in the upcoming month and Saudi Arabia will host it. Although it is still unclear whether this conference will be held or not, because there was also news of organizing such a conference in the past, but it is said that due to serious reactions and opposition of the Taliban it was delayed and was not convened until now.
Efficiency of the International Conference of Muslim Ulema
Utilizing its improved relations with Saudi Arabia, the Afghan government is making efforts to hold such a conference in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia as the most important Islamic country on the one hand, and OIC an important Islamic organization on the other hand are important in achieving outcomes that the Afghan government expects from such conference.
Although the exact date of the International Conference of Muslim Ulema is not announced and it is not clear whether or not this conference will be held, but the question is, if such a conference was held, to what extent will it be efficient in the Afghan case? In this regard few points are noteworthy:
First, who will be the participants of this conference? Will the participants be people whose opinions are acceptable for the Taliban? Five years ago, the Afghan government had made efforts to convene a conference of Ulema in Kabul but the Ulema of some of the countries especially Pakistan did not participate in that conference.
If the participants of this conference are the pro-Afghan-government and Ulema that have an influence on the Taliban do not participate, such a conference would not influence the Taliban’s current war against the Afghan government. But if the participants of the conference are people whose opinions are valued by the Taliban and if they announce the current war in Afghanistan as illegitimate, it may, to some extent, influence some of the people in the Taliban ranks but it will never put an end to the war in Afghanistan.
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