Turkey to continue winning Afghan hearts and minds

NATO soldiers arrive at the site of a suicide attack followed by a clash between Afghan forces and insurgents after an attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday. (REUTERS)

ANKARA: Turkey has reiterated its commitment to maintaining its presence in Afghanistan, where NATO has some 12,000 troops.
With 659 soldiers, Turkey is among the top 10 contributor nations in Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters have made considerable territorial gains in recent years.
Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar recently said Ankara will continue to support Afghanistan as part of NATO’s Resolute Support mission.
Turkey’s support includes a presence at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, providing trainers and conducting military education.
“We’re doing our best to give all our help, support and cooperation under the current circumstances in Afghanistan,” Akar said.
Since 2004, Turkey has been funding more than 850 projects in Afghanistan, with a budget of $1 million for development programs that mainly focus on health and educational capacity, as well as restructuring the state authority.
About 3,000 Afghan police and 4,300 military members have been trained in Turkey for capacity-building purposes, especially for regions that have suffered numerous violent attacks by the Taliban.
In 2014, Turkey trained female officers for the Afghan National Police to integrate women into society.
The deep-rooted bilateral ties between these Muslim-majority countries play a key role in Turkish efforts to win Afghan hearts and minds, and build bridges between them and NATO.
Two Turkish diplomats, Hikmet Cetin and Ismail Aramaz, served respectively in 2003-2006 and 2015-2016 as the alliance’s top civilian representatives in Afghanistan.
Prof. Nursin Atesoglu Guney, dean of the faculty of economics, administrative and social sciences at Bahcesehir Cyprus University, said Turkey’s experience with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and its contribution to NATO from the very beginning, are very important.
“Turkey has tried to be helpful in three major areas: Maintaining security in and around Kabul, reconstruction and restoration efforts in the city, and education and health care,” said Guney, adding that Turkey under ISAF has never taken part in combat.
“The US, under the Trump administration, seems to be more determined to fight the Taliban and Daesh. Turkey, on the other hand, continues to be careful not to become a warring side,” she said.
Haldun Yalcinkaya, a former colonel who worked in Afghanistan in 2005 and currently heads the international relations department at Ankara’s TOBB Economics and Technology University, said Turkish military officers have only taken part in post-conflict peace-building.
“Turkey has been always proud of the fact that no Afghan was ever killed by a Turkish bullet,” Yalcinkaya told Arab News.
Having Turkey in Afghanistan is a key asset for the US, because Turkey is perceived very positively by Afghans as a role model in sociocultural and political terms, he said. “It has enormous soft power dating back to 1928, when Turkish military assistance to Afghanistan began.”