Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey will be the ‘only reliable’ country left to stabilize Afghanistan after the United States pulls out its troops.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the eve of his first face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden that after the US pulls out its troops from the landlocked country, Turkey will be the “only reliable” country left to stabilize Afghanistan, implying that Washington can rely on its Nato ally.
Erdogan also stated that he would discuss the issue with Biden during their meeting on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Brussels on Monday, following poor relations between the two countries.
“America is preparing to leave Afghanistan soon and from the moment they leave, the only reliable country to maintain the process over there is obviously Turkey,” Erdogan told reporters at Istanbul airport on Sunday before leaving for Brussels.
Turkey has allegedly stated that it is willing to remain soldiers in Afghanistan to secure Kabul airport, the major exit route for western diplomats and humanitarian workers, as the US and Nato forces near completion of a military withdrawal by September 11 – 20 years after their invasion of Afghanistan.
Erdogan said that Turkish officials had informed their American colleagues about Ankara’s plans in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US troops, but he did not elaborate. hey are “pleased and happy. We will be able to discuss the Afghanistan process with them,” he said.
A Turkish official confirmed that Western powers were willing to let Turkey stay and protect the Kabul airport. But, the official added, “why should Turkey try hard if nobody is going to give support? These issues need to be clarified.”
The Taliban stated on Saturday that foreign forces should have “no hope” of maintaining a military presence in Afghanistan when the US and Nato withdraw troops, warning that embassies and airports would be under Afghan control.
Given the contentious nature of US-Turkey relations in recent years, Erdogan stated that he hoped to start a new chapter with the Biden administration “There were rumors here and there. We need to leave them behind and discuss what we can do,” the president said.
“We expect to see an approach from the US without ifs and buts.”
The list of differences between the two NATO allies is exceptionally long, ranging from US support for Syrian Kurdish fighters to Turkey’s purchase of a Russian weapons system. In April, Biden outraged Ankara by labeling the mass killings and deportations of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire to be genocide. Previous US presidents avoided using the term for fear of complicating relations with Turkey, which is fiercely proud of its Ottoman history and maintains that those slaughtered in the early twentieth century were victims of civil strife and turmoil.
Referring to the term of genocide used by Biden, President Erdogan said: “This has seriously saddened us… Turkey is not an ordinary country. It’s an ally of America.”
During Monday’s summit, Erdogan, who has been in power for 18 years as prime minister and later president, will meet one-on-one with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
