The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) is planning to hold a special ministerial meeting on Afghanistan in Egypt before its next summit in March, a source told Saudi Gazette Thursday. The call for the special ministerial meeting was made by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu El-Gheit at the OIC International Conference in Kabul on July 21. The source said that the OIC called upon the departments concerned to coordinate their plans, polices and efforts on Afghanistan to arrange a meeting with other OIC organs that are dealing with Afghan issue like the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), and the Fiqh Academy. He also said that a joint delegation of all OIC concerned sectors will visit Afghanistan to discuss with Afghan authorities the future OIC plans and projects. Speakers in the conference stated that Muslim countries should be more involved in the Afghanistan issue. On July 19, a day before the conference, a meeting of the regional organizations dealing with regional projects in Afghanistan was convened in Kabul and decided to establish a core group to draft and implement a plan for enhanced coordination of Afghanistan's regional engagement. The core group of which OIC is also a member will have regular meetings in the future. – SG The OIC statement coincided with a revelation that a new investigation showed 39 civilians, all women or children, were killed in a NATO rocket attack last month, fewer than first reported but dozens more than foreign forces have conceded. A spokesman for NATO-led forces said he had no information about the result or progress of any probe and could not comment on the 39 deaths reported by President's office. Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber killed seven Afghan policemen and wounded 11 people, including six policemen and five civilians, when he rammed his vehicle full of explosives into a joint Afghan and foreign convoy in northern Kunduz province, the interior ministry said. In Kabul, a roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in District 8 of Kabul city but caused no casualties, the interior ministry said.
