Pakistan has played the role of a major facilitator from the early stage to restore peace in Afghanistan. As a responsible neighbour, it has always maintained that a peaceful Afghanistan guarantees a peaceful Pakistan, which can only be achieved through dialogue. Pakistan has stood firm on its stance that there is no military solution to the situation in Afghanistan, which the United States (U.S.) realized twenty years well into the war. With a hasty U.S. evacuation, Afghanistan today stands in shambles. So far, with the dramatic Taliban takeover in August 2021, Afghanistan has received a crippled economy, severed diplomacy, worst humanitarian crisis and a restrained military. Afghanistan awaits world’s attention and an immediate resolve to the crisis it faces. Pakistan has come forward as a facilitator in bringing the Islamic countries under the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to determine a workable solution for the ongoing Afghanistan situation. Pakistan is highly concerned with the increased humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and aims to unite Muslim states if not the world over it. The special representatives of United Nations and the P5 permanent members of UN Security Council attended the 17th Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC. Pakistan once again emerged as a geostrategic regional state that stands to bring peace in Afghanistan and stability in the region.

Pakistan has made a keen effort in unifying Muslim Ummah on a single front through the OIC to address the growing the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. It has left the world in an awe of its diplomatic cognizance as the global powers joined the OIC Summit held in Islamabad from 18-20 December 2021. The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Shah Mahmood Qureshi during the declaration press conference of the Summit revealed that the conference attendees adopted two main documents. “The Joint Declaration on Afghanistan Humanitarian Crisis Situation” and “The Islamabad Declaration on Palestinian Situation” are the milestone achievements of Pakistan’s diplomacy. In the times, where the adversarial narrative of “isolating Pakistan” has gained perspective, the declaration comes as the breath of fresh air. With such efforts for regional stability and bringing peace in Afghanistan, Pakistan has entered a new era of diplomacy. The Extraordinary Summit of OIC on Afghanistan situation has lived up to its name, as it adopts the “Islamabad Declaration on Palestinian Situation” in the presence of UN representatives and the P5 UNSC members’ representatives in an astonishing move. Pakistan was able to achieve two strategic objectives at the Summit, as for the main agenda to resolve Afghanistan situation, a six-point framework was presented.

A unified consensus for the deteriorating Afghanistan situation is the need of hour. Pakistan as a neighbour with all the goodwill will still be unable to provide sustenance to a readily explosive crisis brewing in Afghanistan. The six-point framework presented by Pakistan at the OIC is devised to attenuate the crisis generated by the sudden US evacuation and regime change in Afghanistan. During the summit, Pakistan was able to bring a consensus about the recognition of a laminating humanitarian crisis, inevitable economic collapse, and focus on people disregarding the differences with regime; debacle is capable of impacting all neighbours equally and might even break the threshold reaching other regional countries. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan, also stressed that in the particular situation, time is of essence. The countries in attendance at the summit unanimously adopted that the crisis in Afghanistan requires to be addressed immediate. However, the second major issue at hand in the country is its crippled economy that is unable to survive the frozen bank accounts. It is incapable to sustain the sanctions placed on the country. Hence, the call for UN was made that the sanctions must to impede humanitarian aid allocated for education and medical purposes. The six-point agenda incorporates the essential measures that require immediate global attention.

Pakistan has without a doubt nullified the adversarial notion that it faces “global isolation”. Bringing Taliban to the table for a dialogue with United States, at the Doha Peace Talks, for peaceful evacuation from Afghanistan garnered huge success for Pakistan’s diplomacy. Pakistan has now strengthened diplomacy through the Extraordinary Summit of Foreign Ministers of OIC. It moves a step closer to a diplomatic resolution of Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIJOK) as it propelled the Summit attendees to adopt a declaration on Palestinian situation. The situation of Palestine and Jammu & Kashmir is not different from one another. The oppression of the occupying forces is on the similar structure in both scenarios; the demographic and constitutional changes. However, the final verdict lays with the outcome of Afghanistan situation and the success of the six-point framework presented by Pakistan for the country. Pakistan has intelligently accomplished three tasks with the OIC Summit and paved way for the resolution of Kashmir Issue. The continued global diplomatic success ensures Pakistan as a geostrategic country in the region, which promotes peace.