Turkey takes over Afghan peacekeeping

Britain today gave Turkey command of the 19-nation peacekeeping force that is guarding the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Turkey, Nato’s only Muslim member, will have 1,400 soldiers in place by the end of the month. Most British troops are to be withdrawn.

Turkey has had close ties with Afghanistan since the 1920s, when King Amanullah invited them in to support his army.

And the West is keen to promote Turkey as a secular, democratic role model for Afghanistan.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is to announce the withdrawal of about 900 of the 1,300 British peacekeepers based in Kabul.

The 1,700-strong Royal Marines battle group deployed to hunt down al-Qaida fugitives will also leave.

‘‘They have been there six months and they are ready to go home,’’ Major Angela Herbert said today. ‘‘Conditions are very hard and the original deployment was to be for 90 days.’’

Turkish General Hilmi Akin Zorlu will be the new commander of the more than 4,000-strong force.

In Kabul today, Turkish spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nectet Yatgin said the situation in Afghanistan is ‘‘calm for the moment, but we cannot make any assessment for the future’’.

That role will be crucial as Afghans try to rebuild their shattered nation after decades of war. The mission is fraught with danger. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans still have weapons, a legacy of decades of warfare.

Some local warlords fear that a unified Afghanistan will reduce their power and are grumbling about the idea of a national army.

‘‘It is a risky mission,’’ said Ilter Turan, a political scientist at Istanbul Bilgi University. ‘‘It is not clear that all parties to the situation are equally interested in having a peacekeeping force.’’

Turkey only agreed to take over the mission after winning assurances of financial and military support, including the use of heavy cargo planes.

‘‘If Turkey encounters problems, it will not be a surprise to anyone,’’ he said. ‘‘If it succeeds, the country will receive a lot of recognition for achieving peace.’’

The US has been eager to show that its war on terror has Muslim allies and is not a struggle between the West and Islam.

Turkey is also pressing to join the EU and is keen to demonstrate its importance in world politics.