New Mission Afghanistan

We cannot know how sincere the alliance of the allies of the past times is today, but it does not go unnoticed that Turkey emphasizes American A in its recent foreign policy. It is possible to find this out from the new political move of Turkey, which has set a new mission for itself with the decision of the USA to withdraw from Afghanistan. For Erdogan, the Afghanistan mission is nothing more than a search for a solid guarantee of American cooperation.

Afghanistan has been one of the top priority issues for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Joe Biden, who came together at the NATO summit in Brussels on June 14. As it will be remembered, the first partnership geography of the AKP government with the USA has been Afghanistan. Turkey, proud of its cooperation with the USA in the ongoing conflict between the Taliban and the mujahideen in Afghanistan, which is still in the dark age of the global political course, is preparing to take over the flag in Afghanistan. This includes the issue of the US withdrawing from Afghanistan, after 20 years of war. But of course, it is clear that Turkey has some conditions to take over this flag. We understand this from Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar expressing his intention to stay in Afghanistan as long as political, financial and logistical support is received. This issue had also been discussed during the visit of US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to Ankara on May 24. “The strategic nature of Turkey-US relations has been confirmed,” said the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the meeting. It seems that Turkey's new Afghanistan mission constitutes a new dimension of strategic cooperation in relations with the United States. However, it should always be kept in mind that this Afghan mission is overshadowed by US interests. What Turkey will do in Afghanistan is to take over the flag under certain conditions and actually act as a “guard”. As a matter of fact, the decision of the US to withdraw does not throw away the geo-strategic calculations it considered while intervening in Afghanistan. On the contrary, the Afghanistan-India axis is still under the US interests. In addition, the geo-strategic change in Asia, which is appreciated by its natural gas, oil and mineral reserves, is another factor that the USA pays attention to. It is, therefore, misleading to claim that Therefore, the claim that the USA gave Afghanistan completely to Turkey.

OPERATION OF HAMID KARZAI AIRPORT BY TURKEY

It had come to the fore to consider that Turkey would choose to undertake the operation and protection of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, which was discussed in the previous NATO meeting. The issue was also discussed among the priority issues during the Erdogan-Biden meeting held on June 14. After the meeting, Erdoğan stated that the issue is an issue that can be considered under certain conditions. However, the cost of operating the airport in terms of maintaining international security here will certainly not be low. Well, will Turkey be responsible only for the operation of the airport in Kabul in Afghanistan? The Turkish military, which is in Kabul under the NATO umbrella, had its presence only in the city center and around the airport until now. However, it seems that now Turkey thinks that it can take more responsibility and ensure security in Afghanistan with the financial and logistical support that will be received from the USA.

WHAT WILL TURKEY ACTUALLY DO IN AFGHANISTAN?

Regarding the historical relations between Turkey and Afghanistan, positive elements stand out from Turkey's construction of modern institutions in Afghanistan to cooperation in the Sadabat Pact. And today, the positive effect of the good relations between Pakistan, an ally of the Taliban, and Turkey can be mentioned. From this perspective, it can be assumed that Turkey is considering a moderate diplomatic process without attracting the enmity of the Taliban. It is a fact that, however, Turkey had taken its place on the side of the USA in the conflicts with the Taliban in the last 20 years. Now Afghanistan is partally abandoned, leaving it to the Taliban. So what kind of Taliban is left behind? Might Turkey's moderate predictions come true? To what extent may the United States be able to provide security guarantees to Turkey to the extent that it does not come out? Indeed, according to the statement of Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, “Turkey has been part of NATO forces for 20 years. Therefore, in accordance with the agreement we reached with the USA on February 29, 2020, they should also withdraw from Afghanistan. On the other hand, Turkey is a large Islamic country. Afghanistan has historical relations. We hope to establish close and good relations with Turkey when the new Islamic government is established in the country.” First of all, the move to withdraw from the anti-Taliban war is very optimistic when the Taliban say it should accept it without adding revenge. It is a fact that the Taliban has grown stronger in this process. Today, most of Kabul's administration is in the hands of the Taliban. It is among our notes that the Taliban wants a more severe Islamic administration. This situation may trigger the opening of more space for ISIS in the country. There is a more moderate Taliban image in Turkey's calculations. Turkey, most probably, is acting with the understanding that the Taliban is shifting to a more flexible line. Nonetheless, while Turkey says that it will cooperate with the USA, let it not be pulled into the rubble even more from where it will ‘watch'!

EMPHASIS ON COOPERATION WITH THE USA

Turkey's role, on the other hand, can be seen as an actor left behind in order to be able to intervene in the field again, especially for the USA. On the positive side, Turkey will host all future Afghan issues, which will prevent it from breaking away from cooperating with the United States. Isn't that what Turkey wants? In short, it is possible to state that Turkey has been taking this task as an emphasis on cooperation with the United States. Apart from this, the desire of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to cooperate with the US administration not only over Afghanistan, but also on the Libyan and Syria line in the Mediterranean, and to cooperate in many fields from the Georgia, Ukraine, Poland line to the Black Sea and the Caucasus. This situation will be a factor that will be written as a plus in NATO, where Turkey's position has been shaken. However, Afghanistan, as it is known, is the place where the ground collapses for many powers since the intervention of Soviets, it is almost a swamp! And now, considering the fact that the Taliban apparently does not want Turkish soldiers there, it looks like it will be a pretty tough issue for Turkey. Well, what if Turkey becomes a country that will sink into the post-war rubble just like in Syria and Libya and carry out its foreign policy in the swamp here?