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Turkey to Send Troops to Afghanistan
ANKARA, Nov 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Turkey, the only predominantly Muslim country in NATO, has decided to send a unit of some 90 elite military troops to Afghanistan as part of contributions to the U.S.-led operation in the country, a government statement said on Thursday, news agencies reported.
The announcement made Turkey the only mainly Muslim nation to commit troops to the military campaign prompted by the deadly September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States.
"The government has decided to task a special military unit of about 90 people in order to meet the said demand," it added. The statement did not say when the Turkish troops would leave for Afghanistan or where exactly they would serve.
A government statement said Washington had asked several allies to contribute forces "with the aim of surveillance, struggle against terrorists, guiding the Northern Alliance, supporting humanitarian missions, protecting innocent people and helping the evacuation of civilians when necessary." Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The Northern Alliance is the main anti-Taliban force in Afghanistan.
Turkey said its decision was aimed at establishing "stability in Afghanistan and serving the well-being of our Afghan brothers by contributing to the training and preparations of the Northern Alliance, to meeting the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people and to the formation of a broad-based administration with the participation of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan."
Ankara has said the operation against Afghanistan should continue until the Taliban regime is ousted and has expressed a readiness to host a meeting of anti-Taliban parties as part of efforts to set up a post-Taliban government.
Last month, the Turkish parliament accepted a decree on Turkey's sending troops to foreign countries and its accepting the stationing of foreign troops in Turkey within the scope of operation "Enduring Freedom", Turkish press website news reported.
The decree empowers the Turkish Government to decide how many soldiers to send and where to send them.
"Turkey clearly stated that it would side with the U.S. without any reluctance after September 11 attacks", Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said.
Two smaller pro-Islamic parties opposed the move and criticized the government for acting against Turkey's long-term interests, BBC's online service reported.
It is dangerous for the government to acquire such a permission because even it does not know where this operation is going," warned Abdullah Gul from the moderate pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party.
The main opposition True Path party accused the government of not being decisive enough, but voted in favor of the bill.
Turkish economy minister Kemal Dervis said a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Turkey soon to close a deal on more foreign aid, BBC reported.
Istanbul's stock market, which had waited all day for news on the third rescue package this year, saw its benchmark index rise to close the session almost unchanged.
Turkey's government wants an extra $13 billion from the International Monetary Fund to bridge a financing gap in 2002. The IMF, whose most powerful shareholder is the U.S. Treasury, is expected to lend the country more money in what would amount to the third rescue package this year.
In his statement, Dervis said efforts to solve Turkey's funding gap "will be discussed and finalized with international financial institutions in the coming days".
The IMF team will arrive "in the near future", the economy minister said.
Any decision to provide more loans rests with the U.S. Treasury, which had hoped not to lend Turkey any more after the last loan in May, BBC said.
The Taliban on Thursday condemned Turkey's decision to send troops to help the U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan, AFP reported.
Ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef told a press conference in Islamabad that Turkey's status as a Muslim country would not prevent its troops being treated exactly the same way as American forces.
"Any soldier, whether they are from a Muslim or non-Muslim country, if they are joining the Americans, they are our enemy," he said. "And if they attack Afghanistan we will defend ourselves."
Earlier, a senior Taliban representative has expressed his belief that Turkey will not send troops to Afghanistan,
Turkish Daily News online reported.
Talking to the Anatolia news agency in Peshawar, Pakistan, Faiz Ahmed Faiz said they did not believe that Ankara would agree to Washington's policy of having one Muslim kill another.
"Even if the Turkish government has taken the position of opposing us, we will greet this with respect. We believe that Turkey will not become an instrument of the U.S. Muslim kill another,' Faiz said.
Faiz said that the September 11 attacks might be the result of "domestic problems" in the United States. He indicated that Washington had started a war against the Islamic world and criticized Islamic countries for being "asleep and not opposing this".
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