The withdrawal will not help both Turkey and Assad.
The presence of Kurdish and American fighters has freed the Syrian military from dealing with the problem of Isis and allowed them to concentrate on their more formidable internal enemies. A U.S. withdrawal means another, albeit minor, enemy Syria has to fight.
Syria and Turkey are enemies. Turkey shot down a Russian jet supporting Syria, and Syria has shot down a Turkish military jet. Assad would probably enjoy seeing Kurdish separatists continue bedeviling Turkey.
And let’s not forget that Turkey and the U.S. are both members of NATO, and have a long history of military cooperation.
And of course our military doesn’t want to withdraw from Syria. They don’t want to withdraw from Iraq or Afghanistan, either. Once in, we rarely withdraw from a nation, as witness U.S. bases all over Europe. We do, however look for new countries to move into, as witness Africa.
I agree with the USA president Kurds were paid for the job and it's time to let the people there settle their difference which is mostly tribal than anything else.
Kurds can work with the Syrian government to unify their torn country courtesy of USA and it's friends who are responsible for the chaos,deaths and displacement of syrians but still show no interest in stopping the killings.
Just the last in a long list of betrayals of the Kurds. They are a useful tool, but letting them have their own state would require taking territory from our allies, which we can't allow. So we use them when convenient, and then leave them to the tender mercies of people like Saddam Hussein and Erdogan.
More info: https://theintercept.com/2019/10/07/kurds-syria-turkey-trump-betrayal/
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Perhaps this sudden withdrawal of support for the Kurds in Syria is one last effort by Donald Trump to give Russia one of its prime objectives in their successful efforts to get him elected president. After all, there is mounting support for impeachment of Trump, and Russia may yet have expectations of him before he is removed from office.
4
This pullout was a surprise to everyone save one: Putin. What other disastrous deals lurk in the highly protected transcripts of Trump's foreign interactions?
3
If the pullout of troops helps Assad, good! We should seek to help Assad. He is the legitimate president of the Syrian nation. Every bad thing that has happened in Syria over the past five years has been the result of Obama's decision to foment a civil war. Now Syrians can end this senseless war.
ISIS was the result of the U.S. decision to destabilize Libya and Syria. It needs to stop, right now. Today. We need to stop funding terrorists and bring the troops home!
2
There must be more to Trump's decission to pull U.S. troops and support for the Kurds in Syria and his condoning a Turkish assault on them. It is a blatant betrayal of an Ally. It benefits Assad, Russia and Iran and more than likely Trump's business interest in Turkey.
Trump's foriegn policy decisions are not based on what he thinks is best for America, but what he thinks is best for him. We can all plainly see it now, in how he is treating the Ukrainians and now the Kurds. Trump is a loose cannon, careening from starboard to port, across the deck of our Ship of State. If the decission is not reversed, the Kurds will become colateral damage from his recklessness. We must Impeach and Remove him from the White House, the sooner, the better.
2
Pulling out of Syria and leaving the Kurds to be slaughtered by Turkey leaves blood on our hands and most certainly on Trump's tiny, embarrassingly small, hands.
This is the second time we have left Kurds defenseless to be slaughtered-- first by Saddam Hussein and now by Erdogan. Kurds have been our most loyal allies-- brave and courageous-- in fighting Isis. Trump has stomped on every loyal and committed alliance the US has spent years creating. When an untold catastrophe hits the US, Trump will stand alone.
This is the right time for the State Department and the Pentagon to stand up to Trump and say NO. We will not follow this morally bankrupt commander in chief. His policies put the Kurds at risk and the safety of every American citizen.
4
I suspect a reason for abandoning the Kurds is that they are not pious enough. The US needs pious jihadists that will execute the most bloodthirsty US foreign policy goals that the US and NATO wouldn't like to bloody their own hands with.
The US and NATO appear to support groups like the Taliban, AQ, (against the USSR) and ISIS (against Assad) as long as they act as snakes that bite the neighbours only. The US and NATO likely have future use for such groups.
The shame of the misbegotten decision to abandon our allied Kurds to Turkish genocide is boundless. The USA has (or better I should say, had) one true ally in the Middle East and that is (was) the Kurds. Without steadfast Kurdish support, ISIS would never have been kneecapped -- but not fully defeated -- in Iraq and Syria. Defeat is now a more distant prospect.
What about "ally" Israel, you ask? Under Netanyahu, Israel is a Trump ally; it is not an American ally. During the Obama administration, Israel gladly raked in billions of dollars in US foreign aid with one hand while smacking President Obama's face with the other.
Elsewhere in a different thread, a commenter observed that s/he is beginning to believe that President Trump truly is a Russian asset -- or a useful idiot. This is entirely possible, but our president seems to harbor favor for many brutal dictators, the more murderous the better, so Trump might be a Turkish or a Saudi asset.
Unless we count Russia, North Korea, the Bone-saw Kingdom or Turkey, America is becoming a nation isolated without allies. Boris Johnson might think of Trump's USA as a trading ally but Boris would be as sadly mistaken in this quaint fantasy as the Kurds were in trusting America to stand by them in the face of domestic political expedience.
2
If Turkey invades this portion of Syria, then it is a crisis involving Syria not the US. If the Kurds, who have occupied this portion of Syria for generations, need to retreat then they need to do so. What is not discussed is the ultimate relationship that the Kurds of Syria must develop with the Syrian government. They do not have the resources to carve out their own country. They would have no access to oil or trade. If they align themselves with the Assad government, then the Syrian army must also respond to the Turkish invasion. None of this requires the presence of the US. In fact our own presence delays a political outcome that must arise. The Kurds must show that their own presence in the region is crucial for the Syrian government to reestablish security in the region and in exchange have a level of autonomy.
2
Having had the privilege of working with the Kurds and Peshmerga in Turkey and Iraq back in April of 1991, I cannot but help see this misguided, naked betrayal of these loyal, longstanding close allies yet another Trump abomination. This gift to Putin, Erdogan and Assad typifies Trump's other unhinged antics to protect his personal power. Trump is becoming ever more dangerous. Press ahead Chairman Schiff - this impeachment becomes more urgent with every passing hour.
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The thought of captured ISIS fighters/terrorist to be set free as a result of the abandonment of the Kurds is horrific. The 11,000 or so, plus families are a strategic issue for all parties, especially the US.
That said, Trump and his "decisions" on any international issue aside from the metrics of US issues is a threat to regional stability, plus the US position in the region. Blood and guts of many of US Soldiers have been lost in the Middle East...and now Trump is about to make a decision which will have decades long implications. In hopes the Republicans will join others to bring some logic and sound judgment to the WhiteHouse.
8
Dear brave Kurdish people. The US is made up of many people. The American people are not abandoning you! Our president is. I know it is not enough to know that the people of America love you, you need concrete help from our troops. But, for whatever it is worth, you should know that the American people do not want to abandon you.
15
Even while President Trump shamefully greenlights Erdovan to wreak his will on Kurdistan, the Kurds may find that they do not stand quite alone. They have a long history of helping Jews escape to Israel from hostile lands, a history that Israelis remember with gratitude. Moreover, Israel's strategic interest in stopping Iran's march to Jerusalem coincides with the interest of Gulf States.
What will the US do:
if Turkey treats the Kurds as they did the Armenians?
if Israel tries to stop genocide and clashes with Turkey?
if American volunteers appear in Kurdistan, in harm's way?
Stand not idly by your brother's blood. The book is open and the hand is writing ...
6
I guess since they can't pay for their own healthcare, they must be abandoned.
7
General Mattis resigned the last time Trump decided to abandon our allies fighting with us against Isis.The Republicans are suddenly angry that Trump made this move.Here is a suggestion-they should support impeachment!.Trump is delusional about the propriety of asking foreign leaders for help with his domestic political campaign-he is likewise delusional about the propriety of supporting our allies fighting Isis.He is careless,duplicitous,and dangerous and Trump needs to leave the Oval Office.
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" I , in my great and unmatched wisdom ... ". Most people would use such phraseology in an ironic sense but not Trump. Trump seems to becoming unhinged with his capricious and impetuous behavior. Very disturbing to have such leadership.
11
How much money is Turkey offering Trump?
He makes no deals unless there is some monetary benefit for him or his "people".
5
This is Kurdish territory, an ethnic minority Erdogan hates, living in the region straddling the Turkey/Syrian border, so he kills two birds with one stone: he undermines Kurdish power in the region and dilutes Kurdish areas with (presumably other) Syrian refugees. Trump understands none of this, of course, either how his actions affect Kurds or how it destabilizes the region. He is incapable of complex thought, let alone diplomacy. To hear that the army does not trust him, or even obey him, is not surprising, but we cannot have such a man as Commander-in-Chief.
8
With a looming prospect of being removed from office by either impeachment or defeat at the polls President Trump, or should I say Comrade Trump, will need to accelerate what his handlers want done before he's gone.
Leave Syria, weaken Ukraine, weaken our overall democracy and country with acceptance of foreign interference with our elections. Ridicule and fight with our long standing allies instead of working with them to better our relationships. This makes America great again, how so?
11
The US military presence in Syria is illegal. It has not been authorized by the UN and it has not been invited by the Syrian government. The US has an estimated 800 foreign military installations that blanket most of the world. No other country has remotely as many foreign military installations. Russia has three. It is clear evidence of US aggression and should be ended not only in Syria but elsewhere as well.
5
So much for trusting the U.S. who would want to be an ally?
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