Ex-Afghan leader hails historic Turkey-Afghanistan ties

ISTANBUL (AA) - Afghanistan’s former leader on Wednesday used a forum in Istanbul to praise historic relations between his country and Turkey.

Hamid Karzai’s remarks came at the “Disrupting the Established Order: Rise of the Global South,” session of the TRT World Forum, for which Anadolu Agency is a global communication partner.

During his keynote speech at the panel, Karzai said Turkish-Afghan relations date back to the 18th century, “when the founder of the Afghan state sought advice from the Ottoman sultan.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was keen to help in the tripartite relationships between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey, added Karzai, who served as Afghanistan's president from 2004 to 2014.

He said that Erdogan pushed for “peace and better relationships, and I'm sure this relationship will continue to flourish.”

According to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, “The Turkey-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Summit Process was launched in 2007, and the Istanbul Process was initiated with the participation of Heart of Asia countries in 2011.”

“Turkey’s development assistance program for Afghanistan, over 1,000 projects totaling $1 billion, is one of the largest assistance programs towards a country,” it added.