KABUL - Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani has said Muslim countries should re-double their efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Addressing Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)’s foreign ministerial meeting in Kuwait on Wednesday, Rabbani said Muslim countries needed to collaborate closer and pursue a holistic approach to countering terrorist ideology and radicalization and empowering Muslim youth to prevent their radicalization.

Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah opened the 42nd meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers on Wednesday

Addressing the opening session, Sheikh Sabah said the meeting came in the light of political and security challenges the world, particularly the Muslim world, was facing.

"We should work together to address these challenges," he said, adding: "We as Muslim states, are responsible to correct the distorted image of Islam, to show the true image of Islam and its tolerant human values to the world." He stressed support to Iraq to maintain its security, stability, sovereignty and unity against the terrorist Daesh group.

The Afghan foreign minister said his country looked forward to deeper and broader cooperation with OIC member states and urged the forum to continue supporting Kabul efforts for a peaceful, stable and democratic Afghanistan.

He said radical groups had launched a vicious cycle of violence and brutality in Muslim countries, resulting in mass killings and persecution of fellow brothers and sisters.

He quoted President Ashraf Ghani as saying: "We are dealing with terror as a systematic phenomenon, it is becoming more lethal, more organized and more resourced.”

He added terrorism required a common understanding because without understanding the menace, the Muslims would not be able to fashion strategies to combat it.

As a prime victim of terrorism, Rabbani said, “Afghanistan fully empathizes with the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in the Muslim Ummah”.

He said the overall situation in the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim World continued to be critical, demanding their urgent attention.

“Afghanistan reaffirms its call for the realization of the full rights of the Palestinian people including their right to an Independent Palestinian State. In Syria, we call for an immediate end to the conflict in that country, and a political solution that meets the aspirations of the people of Syria.”

About the situation in Afghanistan, he said, 2014 marked a critically important year in their stabilization efforts. “With the successful conclusion of the security and political transitions, Afghanistan turned the corner in our path to becoming a self-reliant nation.”

He said the Afghans defied a dangerous security environment to participate in last fall presidential elections in 2014. “They fulfilled their national duty in coming together to preserve Afghanistan’s national interests.”

To this effect, he said, the formation of the national unity government had heralded a new phase in the Afghan nation’s political life.

“We are working diligently to address the challenges facing us, and to utilize the many opportunities in front of us to secure peace and stability in Afghanistan and in our region.” (Pajhwok)