Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said that the US and Turkey have agreed on the “scope” of the plan to keep Turkish troops at the international airport in Kabul after the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“During discussions with America and NATO, we decided on what would be the scope of the mission, what we would accept and not accept,” Erdogan said.
The US wants Turkish troops to guard the airport so it can keep its embassy open in Kabul. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin discussed the plan with his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday.
Details of the airport operation are not yet clear. Last month, sources told Middle East Eye that the US and Turkey had reached an agreement on a preliminary plan. Under the plan, the US and NATO would bankroll the Turkish presence, and in an effort to placate the Taliban, Turkey would vow not to conduct operations outside of the airport.
The Taliban rejects the idea of a continued Turkish presence since the US-Taliban peace deal signed last year called for all foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan.
President Biden said on Thursday that the withdrawal from Afghanistan will be completed by August 31st, but the US plans to keep troops to guard the embassy and help Turkey secure the airport.
Dispositive proof all the taxpayer billions spent on training the Afghan Army was wasted … or stolen by Haliburton. All built on a 20 yr mountain of lies.
And it sounds like the plan to have Turkey maintain control over the airport is built on a mountain of wishful thinking. I do believe it is however, a doable posibility, & all it needs, a mountain of DOLLARS and another mountain of lies to obscure it as high priced bribery!!
Do you think the Taliban can be bribed?
Control of the major port of entry, the capital airport, is a critical sovereignty issue. I don’t see how the Taliban can allow it to remain under US control. When Kabul falls, all the embassy rats will scurry to the airport and abandon it along with the Turk security force.