Pakistan is reportedly helping Ankara to develop nuclear weapons and control Kabul by expanding Turkish President Recep Tyyip Erdogan’s Caliphate expedition to the country, according to media reports. This comes after Pakistan’s Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), General Nadeem Raza, visited Turkey from March 27 to April 2 where Turkey’s Chief of General Staff, General Yasar Guler, hosted Raza at the Turkish General Staff Headquarters. 

The biggest agenda of the visit was furthering the mutual interests of Turkey and Pakistan in Afghanistan. During the visit, both sides also discussed collaborations on several military projects and existing geopolitical issues. Pakistan also wants Turkish forces to replace NATO and American forces as withdrawal of forces is expected amidst the ongoing Afghan Peace Process and Intra Afghan Negotiations. As per reports, Pakistan conveyed that through the help of the Haqqani Network (HQN), it has already managed to convince the Taliban to allow Turkish forces to continue their deployment as well as to send more troops to Afghanistan. General Raza also met Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar for discussions on content and form of deployment of Turkish armed forces in Afghanistan and assured him of every possible help on Pakistan’s behalf. Both of them also brainstormed on using terror organisations like Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and HQN for creating a more conducive environment in Afghanistan for Turkey. Besides assisting Turkey, another motive behind the visit was to fast-track the inclusion of Turkey asa part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and accelerate building an alliance between the three.

According to media reports, Pakistan is also coordinating with Turkey and China for collaboration on developing a fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The idea is to bring the expertise and capabilities of the three countries together for mutually developing aerial vehicles and fighter jets. Pakistani Army sees a massive potential in convergence of Turkish expertise on drones and Chinese expertise on fighter jets to boost the air power of the three countries.

Source: Al Arabiya Post

BDST: 1833 HRS, APR 13, 2021
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