Turkey harmed the Turks of Afghanistan under the guise of benevolence.
Author: Nurullah Valizada, writer and political analyst, especially for Sangar
It can be said that Turkey's direct and indirect involvement in Afghanistan is as old as Pakistan's.
Of course, this article does not address Turkey's role in political developments in Afghanistan in the last century, but as a brief historical entry, it can be said that what is today called fascism/Pashtunism in Afghanistan and is one of the main causes of war and instability dates back to a century prescription. When Mahmoud Tarzi and his like-minded people copied nationalist/ethnic ideas from Turkey and tried to lay the foundation of nationalist-Pashtun thinking in Afghanistan too! This ideology forms the basis of Pashtun political thought in Afghanistan and has caused countless hardships in the country, and its forcible implementation by the government still causes many casualties and is considered the intellectual fuel of the war machine.
In this article, we will focus on Turkey's interferences over the past half century. During this period, the role of Turkey in the political and military issues of Afghanistan was no less than the role of Pakistan. Although the country is trying to hide its involvement and wrap it in an envelope of friendship and strategic alliance, this secrecy has not been very effective, and over time, Turkey's hidden intentions in Afghanistan have been revealed and have not been hidden from politicians and analysts of this country.
During the presence of the Mujahideen government (1370-1375) led by Burhanuddin Rabbani - a Tajik - Turkey was engaged in creating a coalition against his government. The creation of the Coordinating Council between the National Movement Party led by Marshal Dostum, the Islamic Party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Islamic Unity Party led by Abdulali Mazari was a political act of Turkey against the Tajik government. The establishment of a Coordinating Council between the aforementioned parties against the government of Ustad Rabbani provoked further civil wars. Wars that are largely attributed to Pakistan. Of course, Pakistan also played a key role, but the role of Turkey in it has always been ignored.
Three parties united against the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, but had nothing in common with each other. The Islamic Party of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was a staunch opponent of the Junbish Party, and even Hekmatyar cited Junbish Milli's presence in the government as one of the reasons for his refusal to cooperate with Burhanuddin Rabbani's government. The unification of the three parties led to the opening of several fronts against the government in different parts of the country, in other words, to its siege. These wars weakened the government. The weakening of central authority and the escalation of war in different parts of the country set the stage for the emergence of a group called the Taliban, with the support of Pakistan and its Western allies.
Over the past twenty years, Turkey has entered Afghanistan alongside NATO, capitalizing on its presence both as a great perk within NATO and to advance its Turkic strategies in Afghanistan.
In other words, Turkey is perhaps the only country that has benefited greatly from its military presence in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, but has not suffered the same losses as other NATO members in Afghanistan. In all two decades of the Turkish military presence in Afghanistan, not a single Turkish non-military has died.
It is said that there were agreements between Turkey and the Taliban, brokered by Pakistan, to protect their armed forces from Taliban attacks. In other words, Turkey was able to play well both as an "occupier" and as a friend and ally of the group that declared the fight against the occupation.
At the same time, Turkey was able to establish good relations with both Pashtun political forces with strong fascist-chauvinist directions, and with non-Pashtun military-political forces from the camp of justice and anti-fascism/Pashtunism.
How Turkey has been so successful is a question that has a long answer and that we don't have time to answer. True, there are two points of view on this:
How Turkey has been so successful is a question that will take a long time to answer. However, there are two points of view on this:
Some believe that Turkey's success is due to the Turkish government's ability and ingenuity in promoting the game. And others believe that the weakness and inexperience of non-Pashtun political parties and movements, especially Turkey's main ally (the Junbish party and Marshal Dostum) and its allied parties and movements, allowed Turkey to play its preferred game without encountering serious obstacles. In other words, the retribution for Turkey's multilateral games fell on the shoulders of the Uzbeks, whose political party Junbishi Milli claims political leadership.
When the Taliban returned to power, Turkey, like many other countries in the region (except Tajikistan), continued to play a double game. Through negotiations with the Taliban, she sought to reach an agreement with the group that would guarantee Turkey's interests in addition to good relations with the Taliban, as well as satisfy its allied military-political forces in the north and give them a share in the power structure. This policy continued for 9 months.
As political negotiations with the Taliban progressed, Turkey also hosted many northern military-political forces with a long history of wars and hostility towards the Taliban. During this period, Turkey, on the one hand, assured the Taliban that the main forces of the opposition groups in the north would not be allowed on the battlefield against them, and on the other hand, ordered the forces to be ready to play their historical role “at the right time” in the war against the Taliban.This policy of Turkey has so far been more in favor of the Taliban. The silence of the military-political leaders of the north, especially Marshal Dostum, Ustad Mohaqiq, Ustad Ata, Salahuddin Rabbani and others against the Taliban aggression in the northern lands, which is their stronghold, has taken away their popularity among supporters. On the other hand, the Taliban were able to strengthen their precarious position and create additional obstacles for the entry of the above-mentioned leaders into the war.
Part of the talks between Turkey and the Taliban concerned the control of several important Afghan international airports, in which Turkey was very interested. Control over airports, in addition to economic and geostrategic benefits, actually provided Turkey with a decisive and effective role in the further development of military-political events in Afghanistan. But Turkey's negotiations with the Taliban did not lead to the expected outcome for Ankara. The reason for this is still not very clear.
The Taliban handed over control of three major Afghan airports to the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a longtime ally of the Taliban. The country is also home to fugitive Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who is said to be actively lobbying for the Taliban. This may have played a role in the transfer of control of airports to the UAE. It is also reported that Iran, Russia and some other countries were against the transfer of control over airports to Turkey, which could also play a role.
However, the fundamental question is what is Turkey looking for in Afghanistan? To a large extent, it can be said that Turkey has made it its main goal and desire to support the Turkic tribes of Afghanistan (Uzbeks and Turkmens). In fact, Turkey has always wanted to show that supporting the Turkic ethnic groups of Afghanistan is a priority. But this does not mean that Turkey's policy towards Afghanistan has ended and will end in favor of the Turkic tribes. In our opinion, in many cases Turkey's policy was to the detriment of the Turkic peoples. In other words, here we are faced with a certain contradiction. In the sense that Turkey harmed the Turks of Afghanistan under the guise of benevolence. At the heart of this contradiction are several other questions:
How important are the interests of the Afghan Turks to Turkey? Does Turkey intend to use them as a tool to achieve its national interests? Has Turkey miscalculated in determining the interests of the Afghan Turks? How does Turkey determine their interests? What is Turkey's policy of supporting the Afghan Turks based on? What will be the political future of the Turkic peoples of Afghanistan, given that only Turkey has the right to decide their future?
Each of the above issues requires a separate detailed consideration, which we will focus our attention on in the following articles.
