Nothing that Donald Trump does while occupying the White House surprises me. His abandonment of the Syrian Kurds, however, is especially horrific - and suspicious.
The plight of the Kurdish people has been a part of my world-view from my college days, when I wrote a paper on their history. They exist as a persistent culture, twenty-plus million strong, divided among five countries, never having been allowed to establish a nation of their own in modern times. Kurdish militias were used to further the agenda of the United States in northern Iraq - and then we allowed Saddam Hussein to crush them in 1991. Now we've betrayed our Kurdish allies again, this time in Syria, where Trump withdrew American troops (and protection) immediately before Turkish forces began a campaign to drive Kurdish militia groups away from the border.
The Kurdish militias in Syria were our most effective allies in driving ISIS to near-extinction. They lost thousands in combat and were responsible for keeping captured ISIS fighters in detention centers. We have repaid their sacrifice and vigilance by stepping aside while Turkey tries to destroy the Kurds ability to defend themselves (and, as President Erdogan's government would stress, the Kurdish ability to conduct terrorist operations in Turkey). In desperation the Kurds have turned for support to Russia and Syria - two nations that don't exactly have the best interests of the United States in mind.
The plight of the Kurdish people has been a part of my world-view from my college days, when I wrote a paper on their history. They exist as a persistent culture, twenty-plus million strong, divided among five countries, never having been allowed to establish a nation of their own in modern times. Kurdish militias were used to further the agenda of the United States in northern Iraq - and then we allowed Saddam Hussein to crush them in 1991. Now we've betrayed our Kurdish allies again, this time in Syria, where Trump withdrew American troops (and protection) immediately before Turkish forces began a campaign to drive Kurdish militia groups away from the border.
The Kurdish militias in Syria were our most effective allies in driving ISIS to near-extinction. They lost thousands in combat and were responsible for keeping captured ISIS fighters in detention centers. We have repaid their sacrifice and vigilance by stepping aside while Turkey tries to destroy the Kurds ability to defend themselves (and, as President Erdogan's government would stress, the Kurdish ability to conduct terrorist operations in Turkey). In desperation the Kurds have turned for support to Russia and Syria - two nations that don't exactly have the best interests of the United States in mind.
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