Turkish air force takes command of Kabul airport!

Turkish air force takes command of Kabul airport :

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Turkey, the only Muslim NATO member, took command Sunday of the strategic Kabul airport, the key lifeline for the Afghan capital and international peacekeepers stationed in this war-ravaged country.

Turkish air force Col. Kazem Ondul accepted command from Britain of the 2,453-member international force stationed at the airport. Britain is expected to scale back its forces in Afghanistan.

On June 20, Turkey — an historic Afghan ally — took command of the 19-nation peacekeeping mission in the capital.

“Our mission is to run and maintain the airport up to international standards and one day return it over to the Afghan control,” said Ondul during the formal handover ceremony which included flyovers by two helicopters and inspection of the Royal Air Force and Turkish troops.

The large airport, which was closed during the Taliban rule, was heavily damaged during the Afghan civil war in the early 1990s and the Soviet occupation in the late 1980s. More than 50,000 mines still cover the airfield’s perimeters, outgoing British commander, Capt. Graham Stacy said.

He said that when the Royal Air Force arrived at the airfield in January this year with an advance party, “we were faced with a bare, desolate and bombed airfield.”

Since April, the buildings and operating surfaces were cleared of more than 800 unexploded bombs and mines, the craters were filled in and electricity, doors and windows were restored to the buildings, Stacy said.

“On the first day we started with nothing,” Stacy said. “Within three days, first strategic aircraft started landing.”

“Mines are still a major problem, but it will take months rather than weeks for the mines to be cleared,” he said.

“This airport has been like a child to us, and its not easy to give your child to other hands,” Stacy said, adding: “But we know we are leaving it to the vary capable” Turkish air force.

Turkey has had close ties with Afghanistan since King Amanullah invited in the Turks during the 1920s to help his army, and Washington is keen to promote majority-Muslim Turkey as a secular, democratic role model for Afghanistan. The United States is also eager to show that its war against terrorism has Muslim allies and is not a struggle between the West and Islam.

The size of the Turkish contingent in Afghanistan increased to 1,400, making it the largest group in the more than 4,000-strong international force. Germany has the second largest at 1,200 troops. Turkey is expected to hold command for a six-month term that could be extended.
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Link: http://www.nj.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_…
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