Kurdish Abandonment

Donald Trump betrays his allies by allowing a Turkish military offensive.

Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Northern Syria to allow a Turkish military offensive against the Kurds has, at the very least, three serious consequences. First, it will further destabilize the region, which has already been plunged into the longest war of the 21st century. Second, it will likely cause a new wave of millions of refugees. Finally, it constitutes a betrayal of U.S. allies who have been instrumental in defeating the Islamic State on the ground.

It is yet another example of the erratic approach the American president has to international relations. The drastic and unexpected decision taken by Trump has caused reservation even within his own Republican Party. After five years of military alliance in which the Kurds have carried out a fundamental role in defeating the Islamic State group, Trump has given the green light to the well-prepared Turkish troops for a military offensive. In accordance with the plan announced by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey will invade Syria in order to conquer a zone that is 30 kilometers deep and 480 kilometers long (approximately 19 miles by 298 miles) displacing around 2 million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey.

Trump has not addressed any humanitarian or geostrategic issues. Far from bringing peace to the zone, Turkish actions have threatened to unleash a new war in a place whose future should be different, one of peace and stabilization. Kurdish militias have high operational capacity, having had years of combat training from the U.S. Army itself. With that in mind, Turkey must employ significant force to control the territory. Logically, these clashes will generate a new flow of displaced people and refugees.

Additionally, it seems hard to understand that after repeatedly condemning dictator Bashar Assad’s regime, even ordering a cruise missile attack on Syrian army facilities, the president of the United States has now implemented a movement that allows Assad to win the Syrian civil war plainly and simply under the tutelage not of Washington, but of Moscow. The Kurds have also controlled Northern Iraq since World War II. As allies once again in 2003, they helped the U.S. both to defeat Saddam Hussein and restabilize the country after the defeat of the Iraqi dictator. Trump has thrown a curve ball with important consequences that go beyond Syria, and affect the stability of the entire region.

Moreover, the premature withdrawal of the U.S. military significantly damages the reliability of the United States as an ally. Under the current administration, Washington has once again ended up being completely unpredictable when it comes to the important issues. On top of that, Trump’s threats to “obliterate” Turkey’s economy if they do something he considers to be “off limits” or beyond what he considers “humane” (as if war could be) only adds even greater confusion to an already volatile situation.

Day after day, Trump continues to ignore the important implications of the decisions a U.S. president makes. He will bear a large share of responsibility for the damage, to lives as well, caused by the Turkish military offensive.