From the BBC:
“Turkey Syria offensive: Some US
troops to stay, says Trump”
US President Donald Trump says
some American troops will stay on in Syria despite his call for them to be
pulled out. He said a small number would
protect oil fields while others would stay near Israel and Jordan. His decision two weeks ago to withdraw US
forces from the Syria-Turkey border region drew criticism even from some of his
supporters. Soon after Turkey launched
an offensive against former US allies the Kurds. The US president again
defended his decision to withdraw, amid accusations he has betrayed Kurdish-led
forces who have been an important partner in the battle against Islamic State. "Why
should we put our soldiers in the midst of two large groups, hundreds of
thousands potentially of people, that are fighting? I don't think so," he
said. "I got elected on bringing our soldiers back home."
Who are the Kurds?
The people caught in the middle
in northern Syria But Mr Trump also said the US had been asked by Israel and
Jordan to leave a small number of troops in "a totally different section
of Syria". In another part of the country he said US forces were needed to
"secure the oil". Turkey moved against Kurdish-led forces in Syria
with the aim of pushing them away from northern Syria and create a "safe
zone" for resettling up to two million Syrian refugees currently in
Turkey. Up to 300,000 people are
reported to have fled their homes since the fighting started. A ceasefire is currently in place to allow for
the withdrawal of Kurdish-led forces from the area but is set to run out at
2200 local time (1900 GMT) on Tuesday. Mr
Trump has not ruled out the possibility of an extension. In a separate development, three current and
former defence officials told NBC that the Pentagon has begun drawing up plans
for a quick withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan in the event that Mr
Trump orders an immediate withdrawal as he did with Syria. Mr Trump has been heavily criticised over his
decision to remove US forces from Syria. The US House of Representatives voted
overwhelmingly to condemn the president's withdrawal of troops, with both
Democrats and Mr Trump's fellow Republicans approving the measure. In an opinion piece in the Washington Post,
Republican Mitch McConnell said it was a "strategic mistake".
^ This latest move by Trump does
little to nothing to protect the Kurds. It is still abandoning them to be
killed and wounded by the Turks after they (the Kurds) fought with the US for
years. It also still allows thousands of ISIS fighters to flee their prisons
and to prepare for attacks against the US and the West. ^
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