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Ankara, Turkey
As the US and other European troops pull out of Afghanistan, Turkeyâs President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that he is not entirely sure Turkey wants to control the Kabul airport.
Turkey had been planning to help secure and run the Kabul airport, which has become a target area for the ISIS in the past few days. However, the Turkish leader seems to have trashed the idea now as the country started withdrawing its 500 non-combat forces from Afghanistan.
The chances of Turkey securing and running the most popular and only safe way out of Afghanistan are very less now, as per the statements issued by Erdogan.
Erdogan took this decision after holding first talks with the Taliban in Kabul. "What does the Taliban say with regard to the airport issue? They say 'give us the security but you operate it'," Erdogan said in comments published by the official Anadolu news agency and other media outlets. "Let's say you took over the security but how would we explain to the world if another bloodbath takes place there? It's not an easy job."
He also announced that the Turkish embassy in Kabul is now moving back to the designated building in the capital city of Afghanistan. For more than a week, the Turkish officials had been operating out of the Kabul airport as the Taliban took control of the country.
"They returned to our embassy building in the city centre the other day and they are continuing their activities from here," Erdogan was quoted saying by a local broadcaster NTV. "Our plan now is to maintain our diplomatic presence in this way. We are continuously updating our plans according to developments regarding the security situation."
Meanwhile, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said the country cannot welcome take the burden of a new refugee wave incoming from Afghanistan.
"As Turkey, we have sufficiently carried out our moral and humanitarian responsibilities regarding migration," Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. "It is out of the question for us to take an additional refugee burden."
This news has come as the US carried out an airstrike claiming that it successfully hit active suicide bombers of ISIS-K who were planning to attack the Kabul airport.
The airstrike came a few days after the ISIS-K carried out bomb attacks near the Kabul airport which took more than 160 lives of civilians, 13 US troops and injured several others. The US, however, claims it has managed to kill the planner of the attack and another ISIS member through drone strikes.