ANKARA - Turkey will decide soon whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Wednesday, after the chief of the Turkish army voiced oppositon to any additional deployment there.
"Turkey is waging its own struggle against terrorism. We will take this into consideration on one hand and Turkey's responsibilities as a NATO ally and in the international struggle against terrorism on the other... and make a decision in the coming days accordingly," Babacan told reporters.
"Our general tendency, however, is in favour of increasing all kind of support for Afghanistan."
Babacan was speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, who called on Turkey to step up contributions to help stabilise his conflict-torn country.
Turkey has stepped up military action against PKK at home and last month conducted a week-long offensive against their hideouts in neighbouring northern Iraq.
NATO members are under pressure to send more troops to southern Afghanistan, where Canadian, British and US troops have suffered significant casualties against Taliban extremists.
Fighting is likely to escalate as the weather warms up, allowing insurgents holed up in Pakistan to cross the mountainous border more easily. Some nations, notably Canada, have threatened to leave unless they get support.
Turkish chief of general staff Yasar Buyukanit said this week he was opposed to sending combat troops to Afghanistan, saying that the Turkish army is already busy fighting PKK.
Turkey, which has had historically close ties with Afghanistan, has twice led the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in the country. It had increased the number of its soldiers, stationed in Kabul, to 1,150 last year.
"I asked for Turkey to increase its contributions to Afghanistan's anti-terror struggle and its development efforts and I had a positive response," Spanta told the news conference Wednesday.
He added, however, that was not an explicit pledge for an additional Turkish deployment, saying the matter is an issue to be decided within NATO.
Afghanistan's stability will be high on the agenda when the leaders of NATO member countries meet in Bucharest at the start of April.
su/rom
03/19/2008 16:18 GMT