World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (June 23, 2011)

The Washington Post published an article by Fareed Zakaria, devoted to
President Obama’s decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan.
According to Zakaria, it will lead to an increase in Pakistan’s role
in the region, so that the country will become the most influential
force in central Asia. This is very important, taking into
consideration that Pakistan itself and even the Pakistani military,
which always remains secular and pro-Western, is turning into an
Islamist force. It is now infiltrated at all levels by violent
Islamists, including Taliban and al-Qaeda sympathizers, the author
says.

The New York Times also published an article devoted to the same
topic. The article is headlined “The Way Out?” The author of the
article expresses deep concern as to whether the withdrawal of US
forces from Afghanistan will lead to a growth in Al-Qaeda and Taliban
influence on the region. That would be extremely dangerous to US
national security, the author believes.

The Guardian published an article entitled “Trust Afghanistan's forces
to secure country's future, says Hamid Karzai.” According to the
Afghan President, Afghanistan's security forces are growing in stature
and can be entrusted with securing the country's future after the
withdrawal of US troops. Responding to Barack Obama's announcement
that a third of US troops in Afghanistan would be withdrawn by
September next year, Karzai said the US president had made the right
decision and thanked the international troops for their support, the
article says.

Turkey’s Hurriyet published an article by Mustafa Akyol headlined ‘A
footnote to the ‘Kurdish Summer.’ In this article, Akyol is trying to
argue with Sebahat Tuncel, a Kurdish member of the Turkish Parliament,
who had an interesting piece in the New York Times last week, entitled
“Arab Spring, Kurdish Summer.” Most of what she wrote (that Turkey
needs more reform on its vital “Kurdish question” and more steps to
take it to a non-violent phase) was common sense, but she also made a
few misleading remarks and totally neglected some problems, Akyol
says. Tuncel and her party is wrong in thinking that the AKP is their
only political rival and that Turkish society is in favour of Kurdish
autonomy. In fact, the situation is much more complicated, Akyol
believes.