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Turkey to Run Kabul Airport After NATO's Afghan Withdrawal

Afghan security guards at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (REUTERS file photo)
Afghan security guards at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (REUTERS file photo)
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Turkey to Run Kabul Airport After NATO's Afghan Withdrawal

Afghan security guards at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (REUTERS file photo)
Afghan security guards at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (REUTERS file photo)

Turkey hinted at the possibility of providing protection to Kabul International Airport following the withdrawal of NATO and US troops from Afghanistan next September.

Turkey, also a NATO member, has been providing protection for the airport, and Ankara said on Thursday it is willing to keep its troops there to keep up the operation.

For his part, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey-US contact on Kabul airport security will continue.

The Kabul airport operated under the Turkish troops during the past six years, he noted.

Turkey says it can extend its stay in Afghanistan if its financial, logistical, and security conditions are fulfilled. Turkey’s talks for meeting its conditions are ongoing with the US and some other countries, Akar added.

“There is no decision yet. But talks continue. Afghanistan is our brother. We want to do our best for their security and comfort as we have been doing,” he noted.

“The airport needs to be kept operational. We are aware of it. In case the airport cannot operate, embassies will have to be shut down, and Afghanistan will turn into an isolated country and seriously suffer in terms of its international relations,” Akar stated.

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China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
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China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Chinese health authorities said on Thursday they had detected the new mutated mpox strain clade Ib as the viral infection spreads to more countries after the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency last year.
China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention said it had found a cluster outbreak of the Ib subclade that started with the infection a foreigner who has a history of travel and residence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Reuters reported.
Four further cases have been found in people infected after close contact with the foreigner. The patients' symptoms are mild and include skin rash and blisters.
Mpox spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. Although usually mild, it can be fatal in rare cases.
WHO last August declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that spread to neighboring countries.
The outbreak in DRC began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But the clade Ib variant appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.
The variant has spread from DRC to neighboring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, triggering the emergency declaration from the WHO.
China said in August last year it would monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox.
The country's National Health Commission said mpox would be managed as a Category B infectious disease, enabling officials to take emergency measures such as restricting gatherings, suspending work and school, and sealing off areas when there is an outbreak of a disease.