Number 60 | December 5, 2008
Turkish President Abdullah Gul will host Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardali and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai for talks in Istanbul.
The Turkish President’s Office released a yesterday statement stating that the summit “is aimed to contribute to the region’s stability and development by consolidating solidarity between the three countries.”
Preceding the presidential meeting, senior diplomats from the three countries and business groups also met to discuss broader cooperation.This is the second round of talks hosted by Turkey, following a summit in April 2007.
Karzai will also hold separate talks with Gul and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss ways to further boost bilateral economic and security cooperation, said the statement.
Turkey deployed nearly 1500 soldiers as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Turkey is the only NATO country that has led ISAF twice. In addition to military assistance and combating terrorism, Turkey sees reconstruction and economic development as a key strategy for success in Afghanistan. It has invested substantially in reconstruction efforts and leads the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Wardak eastern Afghanistan.
Historical relations between Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan are long-standing. While still under British rule, Indian Muslims provided direct monetary support to the Turkish national resistance led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk against Allied occupation. In 1928, the Afghan King Amanullah Khan became the first head of State to pay an official visit to the young Republic’s new capital of Ankara. The new Turkish Republic later trained Afghan military officials and helped Afghanistan’s state-building efforts. Turkey’s successful campaign against foreign occupation and imperial designs has been credited to have provided an important boost to the independence movements in the Sub-continent.
