-Is This a Good Idea?: Turkish Officers Training Afghan Military Leaders
by Dr. D ~ July 3rd, 2010
- (Image via Wikipedia)
Several thousand Turkish officers are serving as instructors to the Afghan Army and police training leaders as part of a NATO stabilization plan in Afghanistan.
Response: A few years ago I would have considered this to be a great idea. The Turkish officers are Muslim but for years have supported a secular West-leaning government in their own country. They should be a good moderate example for the up and coming Afghan leaders.
However, lately Turkey is morphing into a more radical Islamic republic with closer ties to Iran and Syria. In the event of a major conflict in the Middle East it is no longer clear where their allegiances might be. For years they have been Israel’s only Middle Eastern ally but now every thing is rapidly changing.
Turkey is still part of NATO and involved with the battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan at least in training the Afghanis. If Turkey becomes a more radical Islamist country in the future we could regret giving them the opportunity to forge close ties and relationships with the new Afghan officers.
In the future, a scenario might come along where our military is actually facing the Turks and the Afghans on a battlefield or more than likely our friends the Israelis will be facing them instead. We could be supplying and training our own future enemies. Not really much of a stretch- it has certainly has happened before. *Top of the Blog
July 4th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
[…] -Is This a Good Idea?: Turkish Officers Training Afghan Military Leaders (answersforthefaith.com) […]