TURKEY PLANS TALKS WITH TALIBAN OVER KABUL AIRPORT

Mon 19 July 2021:

Turkey intends to hold negotiations with the Taliban movement regarding its possible military presence in Afghanistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

Earlier this summer, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said no final decision was made yet on Ankara’s possible assistance with securing the Kabul airport after the US troops withdrawal. At the same time, Afghan armed forces’ spokesman, Gen. Ajmal Shinwari, said that Afghan forces would be in charge of ensuring airport security. The Taliban opposes the deployment of Turkish troops and sees it as a violation of sovereignty.

“The Taliban did not say that they do not want [Turkish troops presence], they are well aware of our position. We have plans and we are implementing them. Now our foreign ministry and personally I are taking these steps and I hope we will hold talks with the Taliban. We will see what will happen after that,” Erdogan told reporters.

The Turkish leader expressed the belief that the Taliban is behaving “not the way some Muslims should behave towards others” and urged the movement to “abandon the occupation policy in relation to their own brothers.”

Turkey maintains hundreds of troops in Afghanistan, but a Turkish official told AFP that they were “not combat forces”. Ankara and Washington have been discussing issues such as financial and logistical support for Turkey’s mission from the United States and NATO, officials said. Last week.

Taliban warns Turkey

Last week, the Taliban said that the continuation of the “occupations will arouse emotions of resentment and hostility inside our country towards Turkish officials and will damage bilateral ties.”

Calling the Turkish decision “ill-advised, a violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity and against our national interests,” the group stressed that it “condemns this reprehensible decision in the strongest terms.”

The statement urged the Turkish people and politicians “to raise their voices against this decision because it is neither beneficial for Turkey nor Afghanistan, rather it only creates problems and issues between both Muslim nations.”

In the end, it chillingly warned that “if Turkish officials fail to reconsider their decision and continue the occupation of our country, the Islamic Emirate [the Taliban] and the Afghan nation – in line with their religious, conscientious and patriotic duty – will take a stand against them as they have stood against the two-decade occupation.”

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