Airport a pawn in US Afghan pull-out
Talks underway on securing civilian airport as Taliban advance.
For years, Hamid Karzai International Airport has been a main gateway to Afghanistan, an aspirational symbol of civilian life and normalcy amid military bases, warplanes and the scars of decades of fighting in the surrounding countryside. But now the airport, known to all as Kabul International, has become the last stand in America’s 20-year campaign in Afghanistan. On Friday, US officials announced the definitive closure of Bagram Air Base, the nerve centre of 20 years of American military operations in Afghanistan, in the functional end of the American war here.
However, the fate of the civilian airport in Kabul is still unclear. If the United States and its allies can complete a deal for Turkey to keep forces in place to secure the airport, President Joe Biden can go ahead with his plan to maintain the US Embassy — and diplomatic missions from allied countries — even after combat troops for the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization depart.
If not, American and Nato officials said, the consequences could be substantial: Mr Biden’s plans to try to retain a diplomatic presence in the country, as part of an international effort seeking to prevent a return to the grim Taliban-controlled era of the past, will most likely be cast aside, and access to the country by aid groups could be cut off.
“Security at the airport in whatever form or fashion it takes will be important, not only for the United States, but for any other nation that likewise plans to maintain a diplomatic presence in Kabul,” Pentagon spokesman John F Kirby said.
James G Stavridis, a retired admiral who served as Nato supreme allied commander for Europe, put it more bluntly. “Without a secure airport, the ability to conduct day-today embassy operations in a large country like Afghanistan, which is the size of Texas, is significantly diminished,” he said.
“In addition to personal safety and ability to evacuate in emergencies, helos and planes are needed to move US diplomats, aid workers, intelligence officers and support personnel around the country,” he said. “Without that capability, the mission of the embassy is a failure.”
Turkey for its own reasons wants to retain a presence in Afghanistan, where it has a long affiliation, and a shared history and religion as well as an economic stake. As a Muslim-majority nation and a member of the Atlantic alliance, Turkey has played a consistent role in Afghanistan since 2001, including sending troops in non-combat roles. It has about 600 service members in Afghanistan, where its main mission has been providing security for the airport.
The talks with Turkey have yet to resolve details of how the operation would work. They are also taking place against the backdrop of high-level strains between Turkey and the United States over issues like Ankara’s purchase of Russian anti-aircraft batteries.
Military planners say the growing strength of the Taliban and planned withdrawal of international combat troops mean the Afghan government was likely to fall in six months to two years. And while it is not clear that the Taliban would want to shut down the airport and isolate the country if they take full control of Afghanistan, the group has signalled it will not accept the presence of any foreign troops, even from Turkey.
After two decades of war, the fate of the airport is shaping up as a potential epitaph to America’s presence in Afghanistan.
The importance of the strip of tarmac, radars and terminals, surrounded by the ring of mountains that define the capital city, cannot be overstated. Beyond its strategic importance for maintaining embassy operations and having an evacuation route for diplomats and the forces protecting them, the airport is the gateway to Afghanistan for workers from aid groups and other non-governmental organisations and health care providers that remain vital in a nation long reliant on foreign assistance to provide basic services.
“It’s important for the diplomatic communities, aid agencies, international organisations and also for the country to have support from outside,” Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the Afghan government council that has led peace negotiations with the Taliban, said on Friday after he and President Ashraf Ghani met Mr Biden at the White House.
The United States and Turkey agreed this month on the outlines of a plan for the Turks to continue providing security at the airport, easing anxiety among many allied partners.
Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s national security adviser, said both sides had made a “clear commitment” on the security of the airport. But Turkey and its Atlantic alliance partners haggle over the details of how this will be done.
A Pentagon team met Turkish officials in Ankara last week to begin hammering out many of the political, financial and logistic details.
Turkey is expected to provide 600 to 1,000 troops to secure the airport, but it is looking for other nations to contribute up to an additional 1,000 troops, Pentagon officials said. Turkish officials have said they are seeking help from Hungary to provide security.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has said he would also discuss Turkey’s remaining at the airport with Afghanistan’s neighbour Pakistan, which is an influential supporter of the Taliban and has good relations with Erdogan.
About 650 US troops are expected to remain in Afghanistan to provide security for diplomats after the last US combat troops leave in the next weeks. In addition, several hundred additional American forces will remain at the Kabul airport, possibly until September, to assist the Turkish troops providing security, as a temporary move until a more formal Turkey-led security operation is in place.
The US is expected to commit Black Hawk helicopters and their aircrews and maintenance specialists. The helicopters would be used to ferry diplomats from Kabul to the airport. Washington is also expected to share intelligence with the Turks and extend the range of an anti-rocket system to help protect the airport.
The most vexing of the disputes between the two countries is Mr Erdogan’s refusal to reverse his purchase of an advanced surfaceto-air missile system from Russia. The deal by a Nato ally to buy the military equipment led to Turkey becoming the only country in the alliance to be on the receiving end of US sanctions and removed from the F-35 fighter aircraft programme.
American officials, however, insist any deal allowing the S-400 system to proceed as part of the deal to secure the Kabul airport is a nonstarter.