Turkey Raises Profile With New Afghanistan Role

As Hamid Karzai formally assumed his duties as Afghanistan's transitional president, a less-heralded but important change was taking place in the country's security apparatus. Turkey, the only Muslim nation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, took over the International Security Assitance Force. The United Kingdom, which had led the force since December, has announced plans to withdraw soldiers. As Turkish officials raised their flag in Kabul, they capped a campaign that brought Turkey an increase in regional visibility and American military aid.

The international force, which effectively serves as the peacekeeping component of the US-led antiterrorism coalition, maintains more than 4,000 soldiers in and around Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. Turkey sent 279 troops from Ankara's 28th mechanized brigade to the force in late May and early June, en route to raising its total deployment to 1,400 people. This makes Turkey the force's largest contributor; it also provides 36 vehicles, including ambulances and armed equipment. At a ceremony welcoming the Turkish command, Karzai declared that his people "feel secure" with the new leadership. Turkey is deriving security from its role as well; at a ceremony in Ankara earlier in June, Turkish army Chief of General Staff Huseyin Kivrikoglu said that "Turkey, as a country that suffered terrorism, is taking over command of ISAF." The United States provided Turkey access to sophisticated equipment, including heavy cargo planes, to secure Turkey's commitment.

At the Ankara ceremony, Kivrikoglu also said that Turkish troops will be in charge of operating and securing the Kabul airport. Some Turkish Air Force technicians were also sent to the airport. Evidently alert to the mission's high profile, Ankara has also established a two-spokeperson structure, with one covering military matters and another handling political ones, and aims to ensure coordination between the two.

In part, Turkey's concern with image reflects American desires for a prominent Muslim partner in the war on terrorism; it also emphasizes a special Turkish-Afghan dynamic. Malaysia and Indonesia, which are not NATO members, had also expressed interest in joining ISAF. But Turkey, beyond sitting closer to Afghanistan, has richer historical links to the Afghans. Afghanistan was the first country to recognize the modern Turkish Republic after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It also delivered some military aid to Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's first president, during war in the early 1920s. Now that Turkey has developed into a secular Muslim nation with a capitalist infrastructure, it is eager to serve as a model for Karzai's Afghanistan.

More broadly, the deployment occurs amid a steady decade-long increase in Turkish foreign troop deployments. Ankara took part in the United Nations-led Operation Hope in Somalia between 1993 and 1994, sending 300 troops. It also participated in UN efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, enforcing the no-fly zone over Bosnia after the end of that fighting. The country also joined NATO's air operation in Kosovo, and supports UN observer missions around the world. Leading the Afghan security force, though, will be a more visible and less defined task for Turkey – and its failure could more acutely affect Turkish security.

Turkey and ISAF contend with risks from provincial areas, where warlords still command meaningful militias. It is unclear how ISAF would or could respond to an attack, and how the mission more generally could affect Turkey's relations with Afghanistan. With no firm date for Turkey to turn over leadership to another country and no firm protocol for disarming different factions, Karzai is calling urgently for a national army. Turkey clearly wants to leave its stamp on Afghan reconstruction; Karzai clearly wants to convert former freelance warriors into nationalist soldiers. Ankara already trains 20 Afghan diplomats in Turkey. The following months will determine how smoothly it can commute this experience, and a desire for influence, into an especially daunting military task.