2019. Syria. Trump’s Betrayal of the Kurds. (In Progress)
Russia Is A Terrorist State: Part 4 (2016 - 2019)
2019. Syria. Trump’s Betrayal of the Kurds. (In Progress)
“Flag of the Kurds and Kurdistan” under public domain.
The Kurds are a distinct ethnic group of people who have lived in the Middle East for thousands of years, primarily in the regions that are now Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. They are united by their language, Kurdish, which is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The Kurds have a long history of oppression and persecution, and they have been fighting for greater autonomy and even independence for decades.
The United States and the Kurds have had a complicated relationship. After the 1991 Gulf War, the US set up a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to protect the Kurdish population from Saddam Hussein's forces. This zone eventually became a de facto autonomous Kurdish region, and the US provided military and economic aid to the Kurds during and after the 2003 Iraq War. However, the US has also betrayed the Kurds in the past, most notably in 1975 when it withdrew support for a Kurdish rebellion against the Iraqi government.
In 2019, President Donald Trump announced that the US would withdraw troops from northeastern Syria, where they had been supporting Kurdish fighters in the fight against the Islamic State. This move was widely seen as a betrayal of the Kurds, who were left vulnerable to attacks from Turkish forces. Many people, including US military officials and Kurdish leaders, accused Trump of abandoning a loyal ally and damaging US credibility on the world stage.
Trump defended his decision by arguing that the Kurds had been "paid massive amounts of money" by the US and had not been as helpful in the fight against the Islamic State as they claimed. However, this argument was widely criticized as disingenuous and based on a misunderstanding of the situation on the ground. Critics argued that the US had a moral obligation to protect the Kurds and that abandoning them would have far-reaching consequences for regional stability and US interests.
The fallout from Trump's decision to withdraw troops from Syria continues to be felt. The Kurds have been forced to make deals with the Syrian government and Russia in order to protect themselves from Turkish aggression. Meanwhile, US allies in the region have been left wondering whether they can trust the US to stand by them in times of need. Some experts argue that the US withdrawal has created a power vacuum that could be filled by Russia, Iran, or other actors who are hostile to US interests.
Despite the controversy surrounding Trump's decision, some analysts argue that the Kurds will eventually recover and that US allies in the region will continue to work with the US. However, the long-term consequences of the US betrayal of the Kurds remain unclear, and many Kurds and their supporters feel that they have been let down once again by a powerful ally.