By IRNA,
London : Nato is courting disaster in Afghanistan by relying too much on force to defeat the Taliban, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan warned Wednesday.
“If the people of that country start to perceive the security forces as occupiers, it’s going to be a very complicated situation,” Babacan warned.
“What is important is winning their hearts and minds,” he was quoted saying in an interview with the Daily Telegraph while visiting London.
His concerns were that the shift to a more militaristic approach against Taliban insurgents would backfire and ultimately undermine the Afghan government.
The Turkish official rejected the criticisms from British and US officials that have been directed recently at Ankara and other Nato members for refusing to deploy their troops to the country’s troubled south and east regions.
Instead, he criticised the autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq as a “huge problem” and predicted that Turkish raids across the border would continue.
During his interview, Babacan was said to have also complained of the continued resistance of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany towards letting Turkey join the EU.
Babacan said that this, combined with the lack of a final peace deal in Cyprus, had changed attitudes within his homeland.
“This is number one news in Turkey,” he said. “The feeling of not being wanted just goes deeper and deeper.”
During his visit, which comes ahead the British monarch marking a state visit to Turkey next month, Babacan met Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.