Consider the facts: Turkey boasts the second largest military in NATO after only the US and the largest in Europe. Turkey has been a close American bilateral and NATO ally for more than 60 years. In addition to being a member of almost every European organization, Turkey is a UN Security Council member, a member of the G-20, has successfully pushed Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu as the secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and is one of the few examples of a fully functioning Muslim-majority democracy in the Middle East. On top of all of this, Ankara has close historic ties with Afghanistan that date back to the 1920s when the founder of the modern republic, Atatürk, served as a model for modernization that collapsed only after great power interference in Kabul carved up the country. Often referred to as Afghanistan’s “closest neighbor without borders,” Turkey also shares considerable cultural, ethnic and linguistic links that make it an ideal partner for the US to work with.
The Turks have taken command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul for the second time and have doubled their troop levels to 1,600 troops in the last few months alone. Every place the Turks, both civilian and military alike, have controlled has benefited from considerable and consistent improvements in ways that few other Western allies can claim. Having once contributed the third highest number of troops in Afghanistan after only the US and Britain, the Turks today with their 2.5 million soldiers are an under-utilized and under-appreciated ally that Washington would be wise to actively court and engage.
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