Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered to secure Afghanistan’s vital Kabul international airport in a bid to improve US-Turkey relations.
This comes as American and NATO troops complete their pullout from the war-battered country.
However, a Taliban warning underscores the military and diplomatic challenges of the Turkish offer.
The drive to Kabul’s main airport has turned into a crawl during the 20-year US security presence in Afghanistan, with ever-increasing security checkpoints slowing travellers as they inch towards the Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The squares – named after prominent anti-Taliban resistance heroes, Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Haq – strike defiant notes these days as the Taliban gains ground and foreign embassies issue evacuation advisories for their nationals in Afghanistan.