TALIBAN PROPOSED TURKEY TO RUN KABUL AIRPORT: ERDOGAN

Fri 27 August 2021:

At the Taliban’s proposal, Turkey may end up running the airport in the Afghan capital Kabul, with the Taliban itself providing security, but a decision is still pending, said Turkey’s president on Friday.

“The Taliban has proposed that we operate Kabul airport. We have not yet made a decision on this issue,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking amid continued evacuations in the wake of Thursday’s deadly terrorist attack just outside the airport grounds.

At a press conference in Istanbul before taking off to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Erdogan condemned the terror attack and stressed that such attacks by Daesh/ISIS show the grave threat the terror group poses to both the region and the world.

“We have held our first talks with the Taliban, which lasted three and a half hours,” Erdogan told reporters. “If necessary, we will have the opportunity to hold such talks again.”

NATO member Turkey had hundreds of troops in Afghanistan as part of the alliance’s mission, and had been responsible for the security of the airport for the past six years.

Responding to domestic criticism over Turkey’s engagement with the armed group, Erdogan said Ankara had “no luxury” to stand idly by in the volatile region.

“You cannot know what their expectations are or what our expectations are without talking. What’s diplomacy, my friend? This is diplomacy,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan’s comments came as US forces helping to evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Afghanistan braced for more attacks while racing to complete evacuations before the end-of-the-month deadline set by President Joe Biden.

Erdogan said that in the wake of the attack, the evacuation of Turkish troops as well as civilians remains ongoing and will be completed as soon as possible.

Erdogan also said that according to the Interior Ministry, within Turkey, there are currently some 300,000 unregistered and registered Afghan immigrants.

Stressing that Turkey cannot take another migration wave, he said it has built walls along its borders with Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

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