Speaking at Istanbul’s Bogazici University, Spanta said that while the Afghani army had a large number of men, their require modern equipment and professional training in order to be able to ensure peace and stability.
“We have 60,000 troops,” he said. “However, our army is not sufficient to deal with terrorism. We aim to strengthen our security forces, protect civilians and carry out construction process of Afghanistan. Terrorism is a social problem. We should primarily ensure a future to people.”
On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said the government was considering an Afghani request to send troops to Afghanistan and would make a decision on the issue in the next few days.
However, on Monday, General Yasar Buyukanit, the Chief of the Turkish General Staff, said there was out of the question for Turkey to deploy troops in Afghanistan as the armed forces were heavily committed in the fight against the terrorist group the PKK.
