Turkey-U.S. joint group discusses Syria pullout
ANKARA: The Turkey-U.S. Joint Working Group to coordinate the U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria concluded a two-day meeting in Ankara, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
The bilateral meeting focused on the U.S. pullout from Syria’s Manbij and the area east of the Euphrates River.
This is the second meeting of its kind following the initial one held in Washington on Feb. 6.
The group meeting in Ankara is operating as a sub-unit of the Syria Working Group established in February 2018 between Turkey and the United States.
The United States currently has more than 2,000 troops deployed in Syria. Turkey concerns over the possible power vacuum in the area after the U.S. pullout.
If the U.S. troop withdrawal happens before a mutual agreement is reached in line with Turkey’s security concerns, Ankara would reserve its right to self defence, Anadolu Agency said citing Turkish officials.
U.S. forces
Earlier, the US Defence Department officials said that initial withdrawals would be limited to equipment and that no troops had yet departed. Additional U.S. forces and air and sea assets stationed elsewhere in the region are expected to assist with the operation.
Senior administration officials continued to insist that the departure would not undermine U.S. goals in Syria, including the final defeat of the IS and preventing its resurgence, protecting Syrian Kurdish allies that Turkey has vowed to attack as soon as the Americans leave, and forcing Iran to withdraw its own forces and proxy fighters.
But there was little indication of how those objectives, which White House national security adviser John Bolton has outlined.
“We will build out the global coalition” with countries “from Asia, from Africa, from Western Hemisphere countries, Europe too, the Middle East of course,” Pompeo said in a Fox News interview in Egypt. Particular focus, he said, would be on “making sure that Iran is not a destabilising influence.”