Thread by @thetimes

#worldatfive🌍: President Biden has promised the West’s closest allies in Syria that he will not abandon them as he did Afghanistan, their leader has told The Times
thetimes.co.uk/article/biden-…

The White House sent General Frank McKenzie, head of US central command, on an unannounced visit to give a personal assurance to Mazloum Abdi, leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in eastern Syria.

The SDF is the Kurdish-dominated alliance of local militias that defeated Isis in eastern Syria with American and British support.

Abdi has forged the SDF into an effective fighting unit and established significant autonomy in eastern Syria since the defeat of Isis.

Abdi said that residents in the area were shaken by what had happened in Afghanistan. “Let’s be honest, after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan people were afraid,” he said. “They were afraid they might face the same situation.”

The US has 900 troops in eastern Syria, with an additional British special forces presence. Officially, the troops are there to help the SDF eradicate the last traces of Isis from a triangle bounded by the Turkish and Iraqi borders and territory controlled by the Assad regime.

But they also serve as a buffer to prevent Turkish incursions against the Kurds, regarded by President Erdogan as terrorists, or a takeover by the regime and its backers in Iran, which has its own strategic goals in the area.

The Americans insist that their formal position is that they will remain in Syria, and in neighbouring Iraq, until the “final defeat of Islamic State”.

However, it is up to the White House to decide when that has finally happened.

You can read the full story here:
thetimes.co.uk/article/biden-…