Afghanistan: Erdogan's dangerous game

Turkey's first attempts to maintain its military presence in Afghanistan, as we know, failed, but President Erdogan is now making every effort to remain in Kabul and use the country as a springboard for his further expansion into former Soviet Central Asia from the south. For these purposes, the Turkish embassy remains in the country, despite the fact that it is a member of NATO, and an agreement is being worked out between Ankara and the Taliban leadership.

Let us recall that initially the neo-Ottomanists intended to leave a large military contingent in the form of 24 thousand Turkish troops in order to support and coordinate the actions of the created “Northern Alliance” of Islamic terrorist organizations supported by American and Western intelligence services. In addition, at the headquarters of the newly-minted Sultan, it was planned to territorially dismember Afghanistan and create a puppet formation “South Turkestan” from among the local Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen, Kyrgyz and Kazakhs.

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But these plans encountered stiff resistance from the Taliban, who stated that any NATO military, including Turkish, after August 31 would be regarded as an occupier with the corresponding consequences. After this, Ankara tried to ensure that its military remained at least at Kabul airport in order to have a springboard for building up its forces in the future.

True, this number did not go through, and the official representative of the Taliban stated that there was no longer a need for the presence of Turkish troops on the territory of Kabul airport. As a result, on August 28, they were forced to clear the Afghan air harbor and retire to their homeland, where they were greeted with flowers. It would seem like a fiasco, but even after this, Ankara, pushed by Washington and London, strives with all its might to return back.

In particular, we are talking about attempts to regain a foothold at Kabul airport. Thus, representatives of the G7 countries, as well as Turkey and Qatar, on Monday, August 30, discussed the future of this air harbor after the completion of the withdrawal of US troops from there. And the main role in the operation to return NATO control to this strategic point is assigned to Erdogan. Only now it is framed as peaceful goals and dressed up in good neighborly clothes.

Now the Taliban leadership is being given a sweet pill and promises of recognition in exchange for concessions in managing the airport. Thus, the Western publication The Middle East Eye publishes details of the deal between Turkey and the Taliban, which the parties are allegedly close to achieving. According to the resource, Ankara, as part of the agreement, undertakes to recognize the Islamic movement that has come to power as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, but in exchange for this, Turkey and Qatar will manage Kabul airport jointly.

If the Taliban agree to such a step, then the security of the air harbor will be provided by a private military company (Turkish SADAT). At the same time, Turkish special forces soldiers operating in civilian clothes will ensure the safety of Turkish technical personnel without leaving the perimeter of Kabul airport. It is expected that such an agreement will be concluded in the near future.

If this option is implemented, the Taliban will lay a real bomb in the foundation of their power, since Turkey in this case will be a conductor of American and British influence in the country and in the region and will increase its presence, as well as finance and direct the actions of other Islamic terrorist groups created in its time with the participation of the CIA.

If the Taliban fails to cope with the resistance in Panjera, Ankara will immediately try to restore the Northern Alliance and consolidate anti-Taliban forces in the country. And this is a real danger of prolonging the bloody war, which is what Washington was interested in when planning the withdrawal of its troops from the country.

Among other things, the Turkish Embassy in Afghanistan and the Kabul airport under the control of Ankara will become an outpost of resistance against the growing influence of China in the country and the mobilization of Uyghur separatists represented by the militants of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Therefore, all other agreements of the Taliban with China, Iran and Russia may hang in the air in the event of such a strengthening of the positions of the pan-Turkists in the capital of the country.

At the same time, Ankara is showing its teeth to the European Union, refusing to host Afghan refugees, shifting the entire burden of responsibility onto its allies in the Turan Army and the Organization of Turkic States. It is not for nothing that Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, following negotiations with his German counterpart Heiko Mas, said the following last Sunday:

“We have sufficiently fulfilled our moral and humanitarian responsibilities in matters of migration. There is no question of us taking on the additional burden of refugees.”

Before this statement, Erdogan, in order not to litter Anatolia with refugees, sent several thousand Afghans, among whom there were many Turks, to Azerbaijan. This batch of collaborators passed through the American quota, but the Turkish leadership decided to send them to Baku, moreover, to populate the territories in Nagorno-Karabakh that were recaptured from the Armenians during the last war.

Here is what the famous blogger and war correspondent Semyon Pegov writes about this in his Telegram channel:

“Since the Azerbaijanis themselves do not at all feel joy from the arrival of so many foreigners in their prosperous homeland, the authorities plan to place most of the arriving Afghans in the territories that came under the control of Baku as a result of the Second Karabakh War. Let us note that a year after the war, there is still no queue of Azerbaijanis wishing to settle en masse in territories with an uncertain status in Baku. However, the task received from Turkey threatens to one way or another turn into a serious problem for Azerbaijan.”

This once again shows that Turkey views Azerbaijan not as an equal ally and partner, but as its backyard, dumping refugees there, and before that pro-Turkish militants from Syria. This once again shows Ankara’s true attitude towards its younger “brothers”, who must bear for it all the hardships associated with the flight of people from Afghanistan. This is indeed not only a humanitarian problem, but also a political one, which is now affecting the southern Caucasus, where Afghans are moving, many of whom are Islamists themselves and have real combat experience.

It is possible that similar requests to accommodate the same “refugees” came from Ankara and the leadership of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, since Erdogan considers them as closest to the ideas of pan-Turkism and neo-Ottomanism. It is no coincidence that on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the independence of Kyrgyzstan, the leadership of Turkey paid special honors to this republic by opening a monument to Manas in its capital and raising the flag of Kyrgyzstan in a balloon. As a gift, the “Kyrgyzstan-Turkey Friendship Hospital” was even opened in Bishkek.

All these nods, of course, are aimed at tying this mountainous republic to the Turkish political chariot, which, like Afghanistan, is seen as a springboard for further expansion in Central Asia. It is noteworthy that Uzbekistan did not receive such honors, which, by the way, received congratulations on the 30th anniversary from the Taliban. This suggests that Tashkent, being the real leader of the region, is not inclined to become a puppet of Ankara and is pursuing its own policy, entering into competition with the neo-Ottomanists.

But all these feverish actions of Turkey in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan show Erdogan’s desire to maintain his position at all costs, as well as to fill the vacuum created after the Americans left the region. But being an agent of the West and following the extravagant ideas of reviving the Ottoman Empire and building the “Great Turan”, Ankara, through its actions, is sowing the seeds of discord and conflict in these countries, which will lead to new outbreaks of war.