A five-day pause in Turkish military action in which Kurds will be allowed to retreat from battle positions and probably go on to live homeless lives in northern Syria is being seen as a diplomatic breakthrough in the latest skirmishes in the convoluted Syrian situation. The truth is that Turkey, the invader of northern Syria, Russia and Syria have been allowed to have their way because one fine morning US President Donald Trump decided to pull out 1,000 American troops from the region. And then he decided to send his vice-president to make a deal with Turkey after his “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool” advice was trashed by Turkish President Recep Erdogan.
The credibility of the US as a trustworthy ally in its operations as a global leader has just been further destroyed while the lives of hundreds of Kurds have been lost in bombing raids and military action, more than 1,60,000 of them have fled their homes and hundreds of ISIS supporters jailed by the Kurds have escaped from the camps they were being guarded in. Was the US President even aware of his responsibilities to the explosive situation in northern Syria when he decided to pull troops out of what he called the “endless, senseless wars” of the Middle East?
The abandoning of Kurdish allies places the actions of a whimsical President and his personalised foreign policies in direct and self-defeating confrontation with the aims of the US as an influencer of global peace. The tragic history of the Kurds, whose lands were split among five countries and who were dependent on the US for their survival in Iraq and in a tenuous truce in northern Syria, has just been kicked like a football by the occupant of the White House whose action has been condemned by his own Republican legislators in the House of Representatives. The exasperation felt over Mr Trump’s actions has spread far beyond the White House, America and the Middle East.
