Trump backtracks on Syria troop withdrawal
Donald Trump yesterday appeared to backtrack on his promise to withdraw US troops from Syria, after it provoked a storm of criticism. The US president said on Monday that he wanted to extricate troops from “ridiculous endless wars”. But he faced an immediate backlash and yesterday struck a cowed note, insisting that “in no way have we abandoned the Kurds” ahead of a planned Turkish offensive. He also claimed the US had only 50 soldiers remaining in that part of Syria.
DONALD TRUMP yesterday appeared to backtrack on his promise to withdraw US troops from Syria, after it provoked a firestorm of criticism.
The US president said on Monday that he wanted to extricate troops from “ridiculous endless wars”.
But he faced an immediate backlash from fellow Republicans, the intelligence community and foreign leaders who claimed that such a move would send a troubling message to American allies around the world.
Yesterday, Mr Trump struck a cowed note, insisting that “in no way have we abandoned the Kurds” ahead of a planned Turkish offensive.
He also claimed that the US had only 50 soldiers remaining in that section of Syria.
Earlier in the day, the White House briefed that it was not an immediate “drawdown” of forces, as Mr Trump had represented it at first, but simply a military “restructuring”.
In a background briefing, a senior administration official told reporters that the shift in strategy was not a withdrawal but that the affected troops – around 50 to 100 special operators – would merely be relocated to other bases in the region.
The announcement by the president that he was effectively giving a green light to a Turkish offensive on Kurdish forces in Syria had come as a shock, not only to the US’S partners but to US servicemen themselves.
“We’re departing the field,” read the message sent to some 1,000 American troops stationed in Syria on Monday morning, the first they had heard of the retreat.
The 50-odd troops that had just days earlier been carrying out joint patrols with Turkish counterparts along the border between the towns of Tel Abyad and Ain Issa, quickly withdrew from their forward position.
The Pentagon attempted to row back Mr Trump’s decision, sending out a counter-statement warning Ankara that the United States does not support such a “destabilising” move.
“The Department of Defence made clear to Turkey – as did the President – that we do not endorse a Turkish operation in northern Syria,” Jonathan Hoffan, Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, said.
“The US armed forces will not
‘The Department of Defence made it clear we do not endorse a Turkish operation in northern Syria’
support, or be involved in any such operation. We will work with our other Nato allies and coalition partners to reiterate to Turkey the possible destabilising consequences of potential actions to Turkey, the region, and beyond.”
A State Department official went further, saying it was a “very bad idea”.
Mr Trump spent much of yesterday attempting to mitigate the fallout, tweeting: “We may be in the process of leaving Syria, but in no way have we abandoned the Kurds, who are special people and wonderful fighters.
“Likewise our relationship with Turkey, a Nato and trading partner, has been very good.”
He said he would rein Ankara in from a threatened full-on assault, warning he could cripple its economy if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went too far. But the fallout was already being felt on the ground. Turkey said it was ready to press ahead with its attack on Us-backed Kurdish-led forces in north-east Syria. Fuat Oktay, the country’s vice-president, said Ankara would execute its own plans regarding national security and would not be “controlled by threats”.
Meanwhile, the Kurds, who have spent the past few years building a state in northern Syria under the US’S watch, were forced to consider the unpalatable prospect of making a deal for survival with the regime in Damascus
Fuat Oktay, Turkey’s vicepresident, said it would execute its plans on national security and would not be ‘controlled by threats’
and President Bashar al-assad. Yesterday, a fuller account also emerged of the hours that led to Mr Trump’s abrupt announcement.
Minutes after coming off the phone with Mr Erdogan on Sunday night, Mr Trump declared he was approving Turkey’s long-threatened invasion of Syria. It was a prime example of the on-thehoof diplomacy he has become known for. A call with Mr Erdogan ended with him announcing on Twitter the withdrawal of US troops from the war-torn country back in December – a decision he was coaxed into reversing.
The Turkish leader has for months been trying to sell the idea of a “safe zone” along his southern border, most
recently with an appeal to the United Nations General Assembly. He had hoped to collar the US president in New York for a one-on-one talk on the subject, but Mr Trump reportedly could not make time in his schedule.
By the time of last Sunday’s call, Mr Erdogan was seething.
He expressed in it his frustration with the failure of US military and security officials to implement the agreement between the two countries on the buffer zone.
The Nato allies agreed in August to establish the zone, which involved moving Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters, whom Ankara considers as terrorists, back from the Turkish frontier. Mr Erdogan told Mr Trump that the US moved too slowly to set up the zone, expressing his anger that the US security bureaucracy was seemingly stalling the zone’s full implementation.
It may have goaded Mr Trump, who notoriously does not like to be thought of as being hamstrung by Pentagon policy-makers.
Mr Trump yesterday said he had invited Mr Erdogan to the White House next month. It remains to be seen whether the president can persuade the Turkish leader against that full assault when they meet in person.
‘We may be in the process of leaving Syria but in no way have we abandoned the Kurds, who are special people’
We are used to Donald Trump rowing back on policies but his rapid volte face on America’s role in Syria was spectacular even by his standards. Earlier this week, the president announced the withdrawal of US troops from the border with Turkey, thereby giving Ankara the green light to invade the Kurdish areas of north-east Syria.
After an outcry around the world, and especially in Washington, Mr Trump then declared the Kurds great friends of America and threatened Turkey with crippling economic sanctions if it “overstepped the mark”, though without saying what that mark is.
“We may be in the process of leaving Syria, but in no way have we abandoned the Kurds, who are special people and wonderful fighters,” he said. He added that America had a “very good relationship” with Turkey and would welcome President Erdogan to Washington next month.
Instinctively, Mr Trump is an isolationist and wants to bring US troops home from their various deployments before next year’s election. But he risks sending dangerously confusing signals in a volatile area where any conflict can have much wider geopolitical implications.
Aside from the hamfisted diplomacy there is a more straightforward point to be made about the Kurds, who have lost thousands of fighters removing the threat posed by the Islamic State.
It was always to be expected that the Kurds would seek international acceptance of their claim for recognised national status. This is anathema to Turkey for whom the Kurdish PKK is a terrorist group. But a way must be found to help the Kurds, not extirpate them. We owe them that.