Turkey will not deploy more troops for Kabul Airport security: Turkish Minister

Turkey will not send additional troops to Afghanistan as part of a plan to run and secure Kabul’s airport following the U.S. and NATO pull-out from the country, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar cited as saying on Wednesday.

Turkey has offered to guard and run Hamid Karzai airport after NATO’s withdrawal and has been holding talks with allies, namely the United States, on logistic and financial support for the mission. A U.S. delegation will hold talks on the matter in Ankara on Thursday, Turkey’s defense ministry said.

“We already have a presence there,” Akar was cited as saying by state broadcaster TRT Haber, referring to some 500 troops in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission. “What is essential is the continuation of our presence at the airport,” he said, adding talks were still underway.

Last week, US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had agreed that Turkey would take a lead role in securing Kabul airport as the United States withdraws troops from Afghanistan.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden and Erdogan, in their meeting at the NATO summit, discussed the Afghanistan issue. Erdogan sought certain forms of U.S. support to secure the airport and Biden committed to providing that support, Sullivan said.

“The clear commitment from the leaders was established that Turkey would play a lead role in securing Hamid Karzai International Airport and we are now working through how to execute to get to that,” Sullivan said, giving the first details from the U.S. side of the meeting which the Turkish presidency has not provided details of.

Turkey and the United States have been at odds over a host of issues including Ankara’s purchase of Russian weaponry, policy differences in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean, and expectations for a breakthrough in the first face-to-face meeting between Erdogan and Biden were slim.

The two leaders sounded upbeat after their meeting although they did not announce what concrete progress they made. One potential area of cooperation has been Afghanistan, where Ankara has offered to guard and operate Kabul airport after U.S. and NATO forces withdraw in the coming weeks.

The security of the airport is crucial for the operation of diplomatic missions out of Afghanistan as Western forces pull out.