The Central Asian country, which has been a source of instability in the region for so many decades, has come to be seen by Turkey as one of the essential actors in creating a well-balanced and secure neighborhood. Building an economically viable and developed Afghanistan is the lynchpin of this policy. Unfortunately, according to Cihan Candemir, the head of the Foreign Economic Relations Board's (DEİK) Turkish-Afghan Business Council, the combination of a precarious security situation and a lack of organization on the part of the council's Afghan counterparts have prevented this program from bearing much fruit..“The security situation has really affected business relations,” Candemir told Sunday's Zaman, pointing out that the security situation had deteriorated significantly since the investment heyday of the 2003-2005 period. Most of the Turkish investment in the country during this period, he noted, was targeted at large-scale infrastructural projects such as the building of roads and highways – all projects that are ultimately conducive to trade. “Most Turkish contractors now have pulled out of Afghanistan,” he said.
He pointed to the rapid increase in trade during the 2003-2005 period and said that it arose largely as a result of an increasing number of Turkish contractors working in the country. He pointed out that the trade during this time was primarily tied directly to the work being conducted by Turkish contracting firms: “Turkish companies mainly bring their own building materials,” he said. Along with the deterioration in the security environment and the dropping levels of investment came declining levels of products imported from Turkey by Turkish construction companies in the region, he said.
Candemir, who also sits on the board of directors at Yüksel Construction, one of Turkey's largest construction firms, felt that the fierce competition amongst companies in the country for projects was another factor that had contributed to the loss of interest on the part of Turkish companies in the region.
Despite the lack of investment now, he expressed pride in the fact that they were able to accomplish much in the years that they were active there. “The initial situation after the Taliban was pretty bad -- there were hardly any roads. Now at least the main roads are connected. For me, it was a big achievement to accomplish this in Afghanistan,” he said.
Added to the list of factors that he felt were placing further burdens on the economic relations between the two countries were the flood of cheaper products flowing in from Afghanistan's' neighbors, including Iran and Pakistan. “In a developing country, such as Afghanistan, Turkish products simply can't compete.”
Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, according to “The World Factbook” put out by the CIA, now stands at just $800.
But there is hope that things are improving. In the first five months of 2009, trade has almost doubled from the same period of 2008, from about $48 million to just under $84 million.
And just last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu returned from a mission in Afghanistan pledging support for the country and reaffirming Turkey's commitment to helping with Afghanistan's economic development, announcing a number of planned upcoming meetings that would work towards achieving this end.
The first would involve hosting a forum bringing together members from the private sector interested in investing in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan's border region, to increase development with the country in order, at least in part, to help spur economic development and provide economically viable alternatives to the incentives offered by joining the Taliban and other anti-democratic forces in Afghanistan.
The meeting is to be followed up in November with a number of Afghanistan's neighboring countries to devise ways to help boost trade and economic relations in the area.
This November meeting will be the third annual trilateral meeting between the three countries that aims to discuss ways of increasing security. The economic dimension was added when Davutoğlu was successful in arguing that any serious discussion of bringing stability to the region would require a strong economic dimension and the input of the private sector. The Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB, the umbrella group that encompasses DEIK) thus went on to host the forum.
The presidents of Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan met for the first time on April 29 and 30, 2007, in Ankara. The Pakistani and Afghan leaders agreed on the Ankara Declaration, underlining the steps that the leaders would take to address important issues dealing with regional development and the fight against terrorism. Joint working groups were subsequently created to follow up on the declaration.
The inclusion of the private sector as well as economic dimensions as a separate area to address is in many ways part-and-parcel of Turkey's recent foreign policy philosophy, which posits that no lasting security arrangement can be achieved without a strong economic base. DEIK (the external trade wing of TOBB) has been instrumental in furthering these goals.
And although Turkey's immediate economic interests may not be apparent, the fact that benefits are fungible can be seen in the perception of Turks in the eyes of Afghans: despite Turkey's leading role in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Turkey has only experienced one terrorist attack against its troops in the six years it has been in Afghanistan.
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