Afghanistan: Turkey Takes Airport Security, Says Erdogan; Russia Eyes Urgent Meeting with Taliban

On the one side of the Afganistan coin: 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the US government has reached an agreement with his country to protect Kabul International Airport after the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. Whereas Russia is having a discussion with the Taliban.  

Kabul Airport is the main route for the safe evacuation of Western diplomats and staff working in Afghanistan. Washington fears the withdrawal of NATO and US troops could lead to the airport falling into the hands of the Taliban, and the Biden administration is pushing for its security.

Earlier this month US President Joe Biden has announced the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by August 31, and Turkey has agreed to take charge of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport. This has made it clear that relations between Washington and Ankara are developing.

On the other side of the Afganistan coin: 

Russia says it is urgent to negotiate with the Taliban, who occupy new areas of Afghanistan. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin was considering contact with the Taliban.

Peskov told reporters on Friday that dialogue with the Taliban was urgent in light of what was happening in Afghanistan, especially the situation on the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border. However, Peskov did not answer questions about whether Moscow would recognize a possible Taliban government if the Taliban took over all of Afghanistan.

Dmitry Peskov spoke of the need for dialogue with the Taliban at a time when a Taliban delegation is visiting Moscow. A Taliban political delegation has visited Moscow to allay Russia's concerns over the ongoing unrest in Afghanistan's border areas with several Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan. Hundreds of Afghan border guards and civilians have already fled to Central Asian countries in the wake of the Taliban attack.

In Moscow on Thursday, the Taliban delegation met with Russia's special envoy to Afghanistan, Jamir Kabulov. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the Taliban had assured Russia that they would not create insecurity on the borders of Central Asian countries.

Zakharova said in Moscow on Friday that the Taliban now control about two-thirds of Afghanistan's border with the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

On the other hand, Shahabuddin Delwar, a visiting Taliban official in Russia, told a news conference in Moscow that they would not allow extremist groups like IS (Daesh) to operate on Afghan soil under any circumstances. He said Afghan land would not be allowed to be used against any neighboring country.

He claimed that 75 percent of Afghanistan was under Taliban control. "We now control 250 of Afghanistan's 396 districts," Delwar said. However, the Afghan government did not accept the Taliban's demand. The Afghan foreign minister acknowledged on Wednesday that 60 districts had fallen to the Taliban.

Source: ParsToday