Turkey starts evacuating troops from Afghanistan despite plans to run airport

Photo: AA/File

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The Ministry of National Defense has announced that Turkey's troops have started withdrawing from Afghanistan.

While Turkey expressed its willingness to operate the Kabul airport, it started the evacuation of the troops after evaluating the circumstances, the ministry said in a written statement today (August 25).

"The Turkish Armed Forces is returning to our homeland with the pride of successfully fulfilling the task entrusted to it," said the ministry.

It noted that Turkey's military helped dealing with the chaos at the airport following the Taliban's takeover of the capital city and 1,129 civilians had been evacuated from Afghanistan by Turkey's military planes.

Turkey has been running the Hamid Karzai International Airport for six years and has had talks with both the US and the Taliban to continue its mission following the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

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The Taliban, which took over Kabul on August 15, has opposed the plan. It has said that any foreign troops remaining in the country after the August 31 deadline will be treated as "invaders."

Speaking after the ministry's statement, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said that Turkey may continue operating the airport with civilian personnel.

"Security needs to be established at the airport ... I don't think the Taliban has such capacity. They will probably demand a service. The complete shutdown of the airport is not something that they would want either," he said during a live broadcast on NTV.

The Taliban previously threatened Turkey that it would "face consequences" if it carried on with the plan. 

Last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he didn't regard Turkey's troops in Afghanistan as a "foreign military force," pointing out that they had always taken non-combatant roles in the past two decades.

Yesterday, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the group seeks good relation with Ankara but does not want its soldiers in Afghanistan. The Taliban is capable of protecting the airport, he said. (KÖ/VK)