Official: Turkey could continue to operate Kabul airport

Afghans continue to wait around the Hamid Karzai International Airport as they try to flee the Afghan capital of Kabul, Afghanistan on August 21, 2021. [Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat – Anadolu Agency]

Turkish presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, suggested that Ankara could remain in Afghanistan to provide technical support to the Taliban to operate the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul after Turkish troops leave the country.

“After our troops withdraw, we could continue this operational task at the airport there. If it is agreed in the terms and an agreement is reached in this direction, we will continue to provide this service there,” Kalin said.

Kalin explained that according to the Turkish Ministry of Defence’s plan, all Turkish troops should be evacuated from the country within 24 to 36 hours.

Turkish, American and British troops are currently ensuring security at Kabul airport, which is being used to evacuate foreign citizens as well as Afghans who supported Western troops.

READ: Blair’s criticism of the Afghan withdrawal is a robust defence of Western militarism

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.