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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (in March)
Photo: imago stock / imago images / Depo Photos
The security situation in Afghanistan has been deteriorating rapidly for weeks, city after city is being taken by the radical Islamic Taliban.
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan now wants to discuss a de-escalation with their leadership.
"The latest developments and the situation of the Afghan people are really very worrying," Erdoğan told the TV broadcaster CNN Türk.
Turkey is therefore seeking talks with the Taliban.
"Maybe I will even be able to meet the person who is their leader," Erdoğan said.
The Turkish president had previously announced that he would hold talks with the Taliban about securing Kabul airport.
Ankara had agreed in principle to secure the international airport after the complete withdrawal of the international troops from the country.
However, Turkey is demanding diplomatic, financial and logistical support from the USA.
The negotiations between Ankara and Washington are ongoing.
In parallel with the rapid withdrawal of US and other NATO troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban had conquered large parts of the country in recent months.
The militia now controls more than a quarter of the provincial capitals in Afghanistan.
As recently as June, US intelligence officials assumed that the Afghan capital Kabul could come under the control of the Taliban within six to twelve months after the US military had withdrawn.
In view of the rapid advance of the Islamists, these estimates have apparently been revised downwards significantly.
The collapse could occur in 30 to 90 days, reported the Washington Post, citing unnamed sources in the US intelligence services.
Biden: Afghans have to "fight for their own state"
The last NATO soldiers left the US base in Bagram at the beginning of July.
This ended the 20-year deployment of the troops in the Hindu Kush.
Due to the current situation in the country, Germany has suspended its deportations to Afghanistan for the time being.
Despite the renewed escalation of violence, the US is currently sticking to its withdrawal plans.
The White House and the Pentagon repeatedly emphasize that the combat deployment of US troops in Afghanistan will end in around three weeks as planned.
Now Afghans would have to "fight for their state themselves," said US President Joe Biden on Tuesday in the White House in Washington.
From 1996 until the US-led intervention in 2001, the Taliban controlled large parts of Afghanistan.
jok / AFP