The Kurds Have Paid Dearly for Trump’s Recklessness
A new report details the horrific consequences of the U.S. withdrawal from Syria last year.
Abandoned by the U.S.
Photographer: DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFPPresident Donald Trump made one of his most reckless decisions last October, when he tweeted he was ending the U.S. mission in Syria, to the great surprise of his own government and at considerable cost to U.S. credibility. Now, nearly a year later, a United Nations report makes clear the damage to the Kurds and Arabs that America left behind.
On Trump’s orders, the small group of U.S. Special Forces that had served as a buffer between the U.S.-aligned Kurdish militia and the Turkish army left their posts last year, clearing the way for a Turkish invasion. That impetuous decision forced Kurdish troops, which had done most of the fighting to destroy Islamic State’s caliphate, to align with Damascus in Syria’s civil war, and by extension Russia and Iran.