Turkey would never be in a plot against the Afghan people with anyone

Although the US used the NATO umbrella twenty years ago to invade Afghanistan, in fact NATO's decision-making mechanisms were largely sidelined in the process of deciding on this invasion. It will be recalled that immediately after the 11 September attacks, with the international psychological excuse (!) that having been subjected to that attack afforded it, it created a kind of fait accompli and first invaded Afghanistan and then, unable to restrain its momentum, Iraq as well.

Neither invasion actually had any direct connection with the 11 September attacks. But the gravity of the attack it had suffered gave it the right to switch off reason. Nobody was in any state at that hour to ask who had carried out the attack and why these two targets had been chosen in a search for justice for the 11 September attacks.

The truth of the matter is that the 11 September attacks formed a pretext for the US to bring certain strategic points under control. This demand for control was a program of lobbies within the US, but whether its ins and outs had been well calculated is debatable. In the end the US embarked on a great adventure that it could never win, and ultimately it has reached the point of having to withdraw by itself from both invasions without having tasted any pride or sense of victory. That it is again the US itself, rather than NATO, that is in the foreground during the withdrawal processes is entirely normal.

Indeed, in recent days White House spokesperson Jen Psaki made a striking statement, saying that with the end of the occupation of Afghanistan they would not be making a "declaration of victory."

In her statement Psaki used the expression "This is a 20-year war that could not be won militarily," and went on to say that they already expected the situation in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal to be quite difficult, but that "If we had not made the decision we made today (withdrawing from Afghanistan), the consequences would have been much more severe."

The US was in Afghanistan for twenty years under the NATO umbrella, but everyone knows that NATO's presence there was also because of the US. In fact, in this situation, with the US withdrawal, no justification remains requiring NATO's presence there.

The factual reality of Afghanistan that led to the US withdrawal is the Afghan people's extraordinary devotion to their independence and honor, and their resistance in this cause, which never gives up and is endlessly patient and determined. The Afghan people also give a sign that resistance, in the end, if it is patient and persevering, has no other possibility than winning. Just as the Palestinian people have recently shown this truth plainly to the Zionist occupation.

There is the matter of the security of an airport that the US has fallen to worrying about as it withdraws from Afghanistan. That, after the occupation, it has reduced all its concern to this point shows that it no longer has any share of intervention in Afghanistan's future.

In the talks held with Turkey on this subject, no particular decision has yet been reached, no agreement has yet been made at any point. Running this airport and ensuring its security does not even require hosting an armed force affiliated with NATO, or even with Turkey.

In its negotiations with the US on this matter, it has been clearly stated that Turkey will not be party to a formula that would amount to interference in the Afghan people's own internal affairs. If Turkey is to be in Afghanistan, or is to leave and go again, this will be only with the approval, request or agreement of the legitimate representatives of the Afghan people. Turkey is by no means, and cannot be, in an approach of completing or accomplishing NATO's unfinished, incomplete, unachieved mission there in spite of the Afghan people.

The fact is that, with regard to running Afghanistan's airport, Turkey, owing to its existing accumulated experience and its historical friendship and closeness with the Afghan people, stands as the most suitable candidate. Turkey has expressed an intention that it could undertake this task only if the conditions are provided, and the negotiations are for now only at this stage. That it is a possibility that would put all sides at ease is a fact, and persuading the Afghan people to consent to this is one of the conditions sought to be secured.

Despite this, a declaration published yesterday by the Taliban shows that there is a serious communication breakdown on this matter.

We have written before. The Taliban is Afghanistan's most important reality at present. After all, it is the force that compelled the US to withdraw from Afghanistan with its twenty years of determined resistance and that currently controls most of Afghanistan. What it claims and demands is that Afghanistan belongs to the Afghans, on which no one can have anything to say.

We have reached a stage at which those who for years rubbed their hands with great appetite, making calculations over Afghanistan's natural gas riches, concede that they cannot lay eyes on a single gram of its minerals without the approval of the legitimate representatives of the Afghan people. The Afghan people's underground and aboveground riches can only be the subject of an exchange with the consent and to the benefit of the Afghan people.

Any other approach on Turkey's part is not even in question. Even so, it appears that this declaration published by the Taliban was written too hastily and in a tone that disregards the different and friendly approach Turkey has displayed for twenty years while being in Afghanistan, within NATO.

Turkey will not be party to a plot against the Afghan people or any other Muslim people with anyone.