Erdogan takes Taliban's warning in stride
Turkey's leaders are brushing off the Taliban's warnings over extending its mission in Afghanistan.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the Taliban to end its “occupation” of Afghanistan in a rebuttal to the group’s warnings last week against a sustained Turkish troop presence there.
Speaking to reporters before heading to northern Cyprus on Monday, Erdogan said the Taliban “need to end the occupation of their brothers’ soil and show the world that peace is prevailing in Afghanistan right away.”
Erdogan’s comments followed statements by the Taliban last week rejecting Ankara’s proposal to leave some 500 troops in Afghanistan to secure Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport after NATO and US forces withdraw from the country by the end of August.
Afghanistan and Turkey have historic ties, a matter alluded to by Taliban officials last week. Still, the group issued statements opposing the Kabul airport mission, including a warning that Turkish troops will be treated as an occupying force.
