Turkey is seeking to become a key player in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the war-torn country by the end of this month, said Abdul Basit, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Zahid Shahab Ahmed of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization.
After a U.S. decision to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposed to run and secure the International Hamid Karzai Airport during a meeting with the U.S. President Joe Biden at a NATO summit in Brussels in June. Details of how Turkey will maintain security after U.S. soldiers leave is still unclear.
“Ankara has lot to gain on this crucial responsibility,” Basid and Ahmed said in an article for Al Jazeera on Monday.
Because of its non-combatant role in the country, Turkey has better relations with the Taliban than any other NATO members, according to the analysts. This puts Ankara in a prime position to secure the airport in a post-U.S. era, they said.
Recently, Erdoğan is aiming to position Turkey as the new leader of the Sunni Muslim world.
“By insisting on assuming a major role in post-U.S. Afghanistan, Erdoğan wants not only to challenge Saudi Arabia’s leadership of the Sunni-Muslim world but also demonstrate Turkey’s soft power capabilities to the wider international community,” Basid and Ahmed said.
Maintaining an active role in Afghanistan would also help Turkey achieve its ambitions of increasing its importance within NATO and repairing its strained relationship with the U.S., they said.
Turkey deployed about 500 soldiers in a non-combative role to Afghanistan following the U.S.- led invasion of the country to topple the Taliban in 2001. But over the past five years, Ankara has been at loggerheads with its NATO partners over regional issues including Syria, Libya and its decision to purchase S-400 air defence missiles from Russia, which resulted in U.S. sanctions.
Ahval