Some of those who cheered and excused the US withdrawal from eastern Syria (which was never completed) and were silent with the chaos that unfolded in Oct 2019; have been against the US leaving Afghanistan. They don’t see that the two policies are related?
Don’t they realize that in both instances it’s not just about US withdrawal or who the US partners are but also US influence and the way that US adversaries whether Iran, China, Russia,Turkey, or even US Janus-faced friends like Qatar, move in as the US moves out?
One problem in US policy is that some foreign policies become domestic policies. In the end the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the attempt to leave Syria were motivated by similar instincts and both were done badly. One policy was temporarily reversed.
I assume that the overall affect will be more pressure for the US to leave Iraq and Syria now. And the usual suspects of Russia, Iran, Turkey with China and others in the wings, will be there to try to leverage means to get US out. It’s slow like a steam roller but it’s moving
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