Is the U.S. Betraying Its Kurdish Allies?

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2019

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

President Trump vowed to withdraw United States troops from the Syrian border with Turkey. But such a move could harm one of America’s most loyal partners in the Middle East, the Kurds, who have been crucial to fighting the Islamic State. Guest: Eric Schmitt, who covers terrorism and national security for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background coverage: President Trump’s announcement raised fears that he was giving Turkey the go-ahead to move against Kurdish forces in northern Syria.The American pullback could create a void in the region that could benefit Iran, Russia and the Islamic State.American troops have “operated between two allies: Turkey and the Kurds,” our colleagues write in a news analysis. “The problem for Washington has been that the two hate each other.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the New York Times, unlike Obavaro, this is the Daily.
0:09.2	Today, President Trump said that he would withdraw U.S. troops from the Syrian border with Turkey,
0:18.6	saying, quote, it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous endless wars and bring our soldiers home.
0:26.5	How that decision could lead to the wholesale destruction of one of America's most loyal allies in the Middle East.
0:44.5	It's Tuesday, October 8.
0:47.1	Eric set the scene for us in northern Syria on Monday.
0:55.2	So along the treacherous northern Syrian border with Turkey, the United States special forces
1:01.6	have been moving into small encampments. These are Syrian military outposts, many of them with
1:07.0	large concrete watchtowers. Eric Schmidt covers national security for the times.
1:12.6	And the special forces in their camouflage gear, helmets, dark sunglasses, have been moving in,
1:18.8	trying to prevent conflict from spelling over into this very dangerous area.
1:24.9	But then suddenly on Monday morning, about two dozen of these troops just suddenly walked off the job.
1:32.3	Leaving the villagers, they're puzzled as to what had happened. Why did these soldiers,
1:36.0	these American soldiers leave without any kind of notice?
1:39.5	Right, it's not every day that an encampment of American troops just leaves without explanation.
1:45.2	No, not at all. And so the big question was, what had happened? Nobody really knew.
1:53.0	So what did happen? What explains why these troops essentially walked off base?
1:57.2	Well, what had happened is, late last night, the White House announced that US troops
2:02.5	are beginning a withdrawal. The night before President Trump had ordered them to leave.
2:06.7	There's a lot of disappointment here at the Pentagon this morning. US officials tell me they
2:10.4	were completely blindsided by the White House order to pull US forces from Northern Syria.
2:15.0	And basically, this is a major shift with the potential for major national security implications.
	...

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