Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan conducted a joint military exercise in Tuzla, Turkey, last month. The joint exercise had been decided on at a summit meeting in December under the auspices of the Turkey-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Forum. In an email interview, Ishtiaq Ahmad, the Quaid-i-Azam Fellow at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, discussed the trilateral forum.
WPR: What is the background of the trilateral forum, and to what extent has it been formally institutionalized?
Ishtiaq Ahmad: The Turkey-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Forum was launched in April 2007 as a regional effort to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan by fostering multifaceted cooperation among three Muslim countries that share a long history. Turkey is a key player in this process, the highlight of which is an annual summit meeting of the presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey in Ankara. So far five summits have been held, with the latest and perhaps most productive being in December 2010. Over time, the trilateral forum has expanded to include trilateral meetings among foreign ministers, military chiefs of staff, intelligence heads, interior ministers, other civilian and military officials, and parliamentarians. The Istanbul Forum is an additional initiative intended to connect the private sectors of the three countries through regular meetings of officials from their chambers of commerce.