1 juin 2002 - Turkey Assumed Command of ISAF

Description:

Turkey's responsibilities included providing security in Kabul (it led RC Capital), as well as in Wardak Province, where it led PRT Maidan Shahr. Turkey was once the third largest contingent within the ISAF. Turkey's troops were not engaged in combat operations and Ankara long resisted pressure from Washington to offer more combat troops. In December 2009, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said that "Turkey has already done what it can do by boosting its contingent of soldiers there to 1,750 from around 700 without being asked".