NATO envoy welcomes Turkey’s role in framing int’l policy on Afghanistan

“The key thing is that we have a common strategy which countries and people who know the region are involved in shaping; Turkey has a critical role to play in that and that we communicate those strategies with the Afghan people themselves,” Ambassador Sedwill said in an interview with Sunday’s Zaman.

 The British diplomat, who was his country’s ambassador to Afghanistan from April 2009, took office as NATO’s top diplomat in Afghanistan in January 2010.

The outspoken diplomat, enthusiastic yet realistic, had his sleeves rolled up -- both literally and figuratively.

Sedwill was in Ankara earlier this week and held talks with officials from the Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry and the General Staff.

His visit to Ankara, his first in his current capacity, came shortly after the Afghan government reached out to militant leaders with a “peace jirga” in June, and days before Kabul is set to host a major development conference, tipped as a “contract with the Afghan people,” on Tuesday.

“I’m here in Turkey not only to discuss Turkey’s specific involvement in Afghanistan, the PRTs [Provincial Reconstruction Teams], the regional command, etc., but also the political strategy that your foreign minister was talking about earlier in London last week, because it is important that Turkey is involved in shaping the overall alliance agenda in Afghanistan and in the international agenda more broadly,” Sedwill said, referring to remarks delivered by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu at the Chatham House think tank in London on July 8.

“For example in Afghanistan, our soldiers are there, British soldiers, Turkish soldiers, American, all NATO soldiers. … They are efficient, but if there is no political, non-military aspect of this strategy it will not be a success. It is easy to defeat another military site but it is difficult to deal with a complex social environment like Afghanistan. So that strategic dimension has changed,” Davutoğlu said at Chatham House.

Turkey -- a country which has had relations with Afghanistan since the 10th century -- has tirelessly warned the international community that using military means to bring stability to the war-torn country will not work unless these efforts are supported by strong civilian assistance to the country that will enable it to stand on its own two feet.

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu, meanwhile, has constantly emphasized the concept of “regional ownership,” underlining the importance of getting Afghanistan’s neighbors more actively involved in assistance efforts for Afghanistan. It appears that the importance of “regional ownership” has ultimately been embraced by the international community.

While calling Turkey an “indispensable ally,” Sedwill underlined that in addition to its role within NATO, Turkey’s regional role, which has been demonstrated through its term presidency of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the Trilateral Summit Process with Afghanistan and Pakistan launched in April 2007, as well as its role within the Muslim countries, are “critical.”

Excerpts from Sedwill’s interview are as follows:

Why Turkey? What is the aim of your visit?

Turkey is an indispensable power; Turkey has the second largest army in NATO; one of the most powerful NATO countries; it plays a critical regional role and of course has a role in the Islamic world as well. The OIC [Organization of the Islamic Conference] is an important player within this; OIC countries’ involvement in Afghanistan is crucial in order that we can demonstrate conclusively this is not an issue between the West and the Muslim world. It is actually between the world as a whole, a multilateral, multi-faith coalition. And Turkey has a big role in that -- as a regional NATO ally and of course [as a] Muslim [country].

I’m here in Turkey not only to discuss Turkey’s specific involvement in Afghanistan, the PRTs, the regional command, etc., but also the political strategy that your foreign minister was talking about earlier in London last week because it is important that Turkey is involved in shaping the overall alliance agenda in Afghanistan and in the international agenda more broadly.

You have mentioned Turkey’s role in framing overall policy. What you have told me about OIC involvement reminds me particularly of Mr. Davutoğlu’s emphasis on “regional ownership.” How do you assess the current situation, also taking into consideration this trilateral mechanism initiated by Turkey?

That is very important, when you look at the overall strategy; essentially there are three parts to the overall strategy.

The first is stabilization, and that’s to tackle those areas of the country where the insurgent threat is at its greatest; of course there is a very heavy military component to that operation but a lot of civilian effort as well.

The second is to build up Afghan capability so that we can transition that responsibility for security for governments throughout the entire country. The building up of the Afghan forces is a big part of that and Turkey is involved in the training of the Afghan forces, of course, which is very important.

The third, which goes to the point which you have raised, is the whole political framework that’s within Afghanistan and regionally. We know that in the end we need an inclusive political settlement within Afghanistan, we also need Afghanistan to be at peace with all its neighbors in order that they can tackle this common threat of extremism together because otherwise it flows across those very close borders, actually not only with Pakistan but over to the other countries as well. There is infiltration backwards and forwards between Uzbekistan, between Tajikistan and various Islamic extremist groups there linked back to al-Qaeda in broader areas within Pakistan.

So there needs to be both within Afghanistan and regionally essentially a political settlement that means the governments are working together and that within all Afghan communities, ethnic groups and tribal groups working together.

As you said, Pakistan is the critical country where the Taliban and the other insurgent groups are based across that border, they are operating to the south and the east of Afghanistan. Pakistan has seven divisions in the field against their own extremist threat; nothing near, to be frank … this is something that got out of hand within Pakistan.

When I was in Pakistan five years ago they believed they could contain it. I think they realized just how dangerous it became, almost too late, when the Pakistani Taliban moved to Swat. I think that really galvanized the people of Pakistan to realize that this threat was close to them so they are having to tackle that now.

Again, Turkey has been very active in regional security, generally in South Asia, but I think in a sense more critical in that is the long-standing bilateral relationships that Turkey has with Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is a degree of confessional trust in those relationships that gives Turkey the opportunity to play a role in helping bring these two countries to calm.

What do you expect from the mobility in the upcoming process -- the conference, the parliamentary elections in September?

What we are seeking to help the Afghan government do is to create a series of stepping stones -- if you like -- that create momentum. Politics is about momentum, really, and the sense that the overall agenda is moving in the right direction. Because we all know that for a long period, the sense has been in the wrong direction -- security deteriorated, the government flat-lined and the only good things were the economic and social development.

We have to turn that perception around and regain momentum for the legitimate government and thus the international coalition.

So that does mean that the security operations must regain the initiative against the Taliban, but it also means helping the government create a sense of political momentum so that the people believe things are on the right track.

So the peace jirga brought 1,600 people across from Afghanistan to set out an agenda [for the Afghan government on] how to reach to the insurgents, saying, “You can re-enter the mainstream, there is an opportunity to be forgiven for the violence that has been carried out, you can live a normal life but there are conditions and these conditions are that you renounce violence and terrorism and you respect constitution.”

That was very important. We have the Kabul conference coming up. That is again a very important opportunity for the Afghan government; for the first time a conference in Afghanistan on Afghanistan led by the Afghan government which sets out the policy agenda for governance and development over the next few years -- supported by the international community -- [will be held], but critically it is an opportunity for the government to speak to the people and say: “We are going to tackle corruption, we are building the Afghan forces so that they can take over and therefore we will be in charge, be responsible for everything throughout the country -- the security, the governance and the development. We do have international support for this reconciliation offer to the Taliban and the insurgents and the funding for that.”

So, that’s an important event as well, parliamentary elections are another one. Again, that’s an internal political event which creates opportunity for people who feel excluded from the political and economic powers to be included. And that they feel that their representatives are represented in parliament or there are serious representatives in parliament who will look after their interests.

All of these things are stepping stones in the rapprochement between Afghanistan and Pakistan and improving that relationship and regional security, in which Turkey has a big role, and indeed the process itself; hopefully all of this will create a sense that we have the momentum; that in the military campaign, in the political campaign, the momentum lies with the government of Afghanistan for building confidence and so on.

What would you like to particularly highlight nowadays?

There are three points that I would like to make.

The first is that 2010 is a critical year for the campaign in Afghanistan. For the first time we’ve aligned our resources with a strategy and we have the opportunity to really reverse the momentum, regain the initiative [which is] one thing we had lost.

We all know the people of Afghanistan are impatient and the people of the alliance are impatient, that we have to demonstrate by the end of 2010 that the sacrifices they have made are working.

Not that the campaign is over -- there is going to be a long struggle ahead, but we are on the right track and we haven’t been in the right track in the past. That’s why 2010 is a critical year.

And the second one, just to echo the argument that your foreign minister echoed in his speech at Chatham House; he echoed it many times before, and your president did as well -- and that is a need for a comprehensive approach and again that needs to be comprehensive and balanced. So the military component of the campaign is critical, particularly stabilizing the situation when the insurgency is strong in the South and East. But we also need these other elements -- broad Afghan capability so that they can take responsibility for their country -- and we can start doing that in the more stable areas of the country within the next year or so.

And then thirdly, we have to have this political strategy in terms of Afghanistan but also between Afghanistan and its neighbors in order to really resolve the underlying problems, whether they are at a local level or at a strategic regional level.

A comprehensive strategy is absolutely critical; more people focus on the military campaign. It is important that we put as much energy and the right level of resources into the civilian efforts to build Afghan capability as political effort to resolve the tensions.

Back to my three Rs: Regain the initiative against insurgency, resolve the political tensions and transition responsibility to the Afghans.

The third point I’ll make is Turkey’s role. I described Turkey as the indispensible ally and I genuinely believe that is the case. Turkey is one of the most powerful countries within NATO and therefore provides a major role apart from the military efforts in Afghanistan, leading a regional command, two PRTs and training efforts within Afghanistan and in Turkey. It is multifaceted.

Turkey has a regional role aside from its role as an ally; Turkey has a regional role through CICA and through trilateral mechanism with Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is critical that it continues because in the end this is your neighborhood and it is directly in Turkey’s own strategic national interests that this neighborhood is stable and at peace. That’s why it is to the benefit of the rest of us that Turkey is helping to achieve [peace and stability].

Turkey’s role within the Muslim world, not only the OIC but more generally, having a Muslim country like Turkey directly involved in Afghanistan, helping to draw other Muslim countries in, just reinforces the sense that this is not a clash of civilizations, this is a clash between violent extremism and peaceful people of all faiths. And therefore we are going to stand up for our values with the same resilience. Turkey’s role as an ally, as a regional power and as a Muslim country, all of those roles are critical.