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Taliban decision in May The selection of the UAE as its partner to manage operations at several strategic airports in Afghanistan has raised some eyebrows.
After all, the Taliban and United Arab Emirates He has been on opposing sides in the 2001 US-led war over who will control Afghanistan’s future, and in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban have another apparently more popular option for airport management: Turkey.
The Taliban is widely expected to sign an agreement with Turkey to manage the airport after months of negotiations following the collapse of the previous Afghan government and the Taliban takeover last August. However, sources said, city monitor The stalemate with Turkey in those months and Qatar Negotiations brokered by Qatar stalled and then fell apart, with Kabul ultimately opting for the UAE.
Surprisingly, Kabul chose to hold a public signing ceremony on May 24 announcing the switch to an Emirati-backed company that previously operated the Afghan airport instead of the Turkish government. Anwar Gargash, Abu Dhabi’s senior diplomatic adviser, and Afghan Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar attended the ceremony, suggesting it was a decision made at the highest levels of both countries.
The Taliban’s pivot to the UAE rather than Turkey — which Qatar also has backing in its bid for an Afghan airport — underscores how Kabul has become an arena for competition in the Middle East, while also showing that the group does not want to be overly dependent on any one international partner.
Afghan government sources said city monitor Conditions in Ankara ‘difficult and harsh’ and ‘almost impossible’ [for Kabul to] accepted”, so they decided to Abu Dhabi.
As the Afghan economy spirals due to international sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies, the Taliban is eager to quickly conclude an economically favorable agreement on the management and operational control of its airports to help create jobs and strengthen the group’s domestic legitimacy .
“This is a critical point for the Afghan government, negotiating [with Turkey] It has come to a standstill,” Abdullah Azam, a personal aide to Mullah Baradar, told city monitor. “However, the UAE offers conditions [on the airport deal] This is advantageous. They are a viable option. “
From assassination to agreement
The deal means the UAE will manage three Afghanistan international airports, with the potential to handle more in the future.
Ten days before the agreement was signed, Baradar attended the funeral of the late UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, among other world leaders. Relations between the Taliban and Abu Dhabi have been far from friendly in the past, though.
While the UAE recognized the Taliban’s previous government in the late 1990s, things changed dramatically after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, especially since the group harbored al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
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Washington’s “war on terror,” the subsequent invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and Arab Spring A decade later, he has put Abu Dhabi at war with anything seen as political Islam, causing relations with the Taliban to deteriorate to the point of near irreparability. Added to this are Turkey and Qatar; the latter, especially Abu Dhabi, is the focus of outrage over its alleged harbouring of Islamists and hosting the Taliban political office.
At one point, Emirati officials — including current President Mohammed bin Zayed — are said to have raised Assassination of Taliban officials Representing the former Trump administration in Doha. The Taliban’s political office in Doha was then led by the same mullah Baradar with whom the UAE has now signed the agreement.
Despite serious tensions between the Taliban and the UAE, Kabul has opted for a partnership with Abu Dhabi over the Doha-brokered arrangement with Ankara.
Barriers to Transactions over afghanistan airport
Afghan government sources said a number of points of contention arose during months-long negotiations with Turkish and Qatari officials.An official from the Ministry of Aviation and Transport of Afghanistan city monitor On condition of anonymity, he said Ankara “doesn’t want to [to administer] Just Kabul airport, but there are four international airports”.
Further obstacles became clear in the final round of talks in Doha and Ankara after talks had dragged on for months. Training Afghan staff to take over the eventual management of Afghan airports – something Kabul is keen on – is “not a priority” for the Turks, the source said.
The situation in Turkey goes further. A special security zone made up of Turkish private military contractors will be set up inside the airport. Afghan security personnel will be strictly prohibited from entering these areas. For the Taliban, whose raison d’être is to oppose the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, the proposal does not work.
By contrast, the agreement with the UAE places control of security issues in Afghanistan, with most of the work going to local Afghans rather than foreign contractors.
“Turkey demands security controls, just as Turkey [provided] In the period before taking over the Taliban, it was strongly rejected,” Ömer Özkizilcik, an independent Turkish foreign policy and security analyst, told city monitor. “The Taliban see such demands as a ban on their own political ambitions and self-image. According to [the Taliban’s] Think… this request violates Afghan sovereignty. “
Faiz Muhammad Zaland, assistant professor of public policy at Kabul University, told city monitor The technical aspects of negotiation are overlooked. Zaland believes that the unstable situation in the Afghan government means that technical problems are inevitable. Zaland stressed that Qatar itself could not compete with the UAE’s established strength in providing air services and therefore partnered with Turkey.
“[Ankara] Want to collaborate and take action…improve and expand their relationship [Kabul],” Zaland said there was a fundamental reason for Turkey’s situation. Their aim was to ensure that the deal met international aviation standards that the current and previous governments in Afghanistan could not achieve.
However, Kabul is reluctant to give up airport security.
Afghan government sources further revealed that Turkey’s “control” of Afghan airports will be extended to tax collection, Afghanistan’s complete “non-interference” in airport management, and even Turkish-Qatar control over “even airport kiosks and border control”. The Taliban are also reluctant Having the ICC arbitrate in disputes sees it as imposing Western legal norms, not just international business standards.
While Kabul is keen to connect with international partners, including Turkey, it appears that Abu Dhabi has leapfrogged its regional rivals in this opportunity and has managed to expand its reach, not only in this Central Asian country, And also with other international actors who prefer to deal with intermediaries rather than directly with Kabul.
Özkizilcik added: “This deal demonstrates how the UAE has deftly prevailed over the Turkish-Qatar axis and despite the prevailing belief that the Taliban know how to be pragmatic when it suits them.” Contrary to the group’s reputation, this Events show that the Taliban are not incapable of making pragmatic deals, at least abroad. It remains to be seen whether this flexibility can be implemented in Afghanistan to address critical and unresolved issues, including women’s education.
At the time of publication, city monitor No response has been received from the governments of Turkey, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates to requests for comment.
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