Daesh and the Taliban are two different groups and it cannot be raised to exploit issues between terrorist groups for a country’s own interests, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday.
The president commented on the situation in Afghanistan while speaking at a press conference with members of the Presidential Council at the Presidential Palace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Currently, I cannot estimate how Daesh is different from the Taliban and what kind of conflict they will get into, but it is not a question of Turkey or other countries exploiting this conflict for their own interests,” Erdogan said.
He went on to say that any action the US will take in Afghanistan should be taken to ensure the peace of the Afghan people.
Meanwhile, Erdoğan also said that Turkey has completed the withdrawal of all its civilian teams from Afghanistan, except for a limited number of technical personnel.
As for the twin bombings near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, in which the death toll has risen to 170 by the end of Friday, Erdogan rhetorically wondered whether “those leaving the country have fought the terrorist organization Daesh “.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack outside Kabul airport, the group’s Amaq News Agency told its Telegram channel. As Turkey, Erdoğan, put it, “we demonstrated the strongest fight against Daesh.”
The Pentagon previously confirmed that two separate explosions occurred near Kabul airport, with one explosion at Abbey Gate and another against the nearby Baron Hotel.
Later, two U.S. officials said at least 12 members of the U.S. service were killed in the bombings in Afghanistan, including 11 Marines and a Navy doctor. Officials said several U.S. military troops were wounded. They warn, however, that the numbers may grow.