ANKARA
The senior Afghan diplomat in Turkey has said that Turkey and Afghanistan would become strategic partners in 2013.
"We are going to transform Turkey-Afghanistan Friendship Agreement which was signed under the conditions of 1921, into Turkey-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership in the first months of next year," Afghan ambassador in Ankara, Amanullah Jayhoon, told The Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.
Recalling that revision of the friendship agreement was brought up during a meeting between Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai at the UN summit in Chicago earlier this year, Jayhoon said the reconsideration of the agreement would be beneficial for both countries.
"Turkey-Afghanistan Friendship Agreement was signed 91 years ago under conditions of the time, but we need to take a step forward. This friendship agreement will transform into a strategic partnership agreement. A rough draft is being prepared, and the agreement will be inked during the Turkish president's visit to Afghanistan in the first months of 2013," he said.
Recalling that he began his Turkey mission in July, the ambassador stated that his task in Ankara would not be hard for him "because Turks love Afghanistan a lot and regard themselves as Afghan ambassadors."
Noting that Afghan people have faith in Turkish people, "our soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder with Turkish soldiers against the enemy of Turks in the Dardanelles Battle of 1915. During that time, Afghan women contributed to the Turkish war effort by selling their jewelry. And now, Turkish soldiers fulfill duties in Afghanistan. They have been providing training for Afghan security forces. They are making an effort to establish peace in Afghanistan. Afghan people regard Turkish soldiers as their own children. A relation cannot be better than this," Jayhoon said.
Afghan forces can take responsibility when NATO withdraws
The ambassador noted that Afghanistan was of vital importance in terms of its strategic position.
International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) and Turkey have been contributing to his country to help bring peace, Jayhoon said, stressing that the training of the Afghan forces should have started earlier than 2007.
He indicated that there were approximately 200,000 trained Afghan forces in the country.
"For the time being, the Afghan security forces are in good shape. Of course, they have several problems. In a short time, 75 percent of the country's security will be handed over to Afghan forces and remaining 25 percent will be taken over by 2013. And when NATO forces leave the country, our security forces will able to take full responsibility," the ambassador said.
He also stated that regional countries were playing a crucial role over making Afghanistan a peaceful land.
