WASHINGTON, D.C. — A top leader in Rojava, or Syrian Kurdistan, confirmed that officials in the United States are not on the same page with regards to a troop withdrawal from Syria.
“Generally, there is a general disagreement with this pullout decision. There are essentially serious efforts on how to scrap this decision, how to correct it,” Ilham Ahmed told Rudaw in Washington on Tuesday following an event at the Middle East Institute.
Ahmed is co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), political arm of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — the dominant force in northeastern Syria.
She has been in the US capital over the past week trying to get the administration of US President Donald Trump to rethink or more slowly implement his announced troop withdrawal.
Ahmed and Trump crossed paths at the Great America Committee fundraising event on Monday night. The Washington Post reported that they shook hands and Trump said, “I love the Kurds.”
She reportedly thanked him and asked that he does not “let the Kurds be slaughtered” by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Trump responded that the Kurds were “not going to be killed,” according to WaPo.
Syria and Kurdish affairs analyst Mutlu Civiroglu tweeted a photo of the apparent meeting on Monday.
President Trump briefly spoke with Senior Syrian Kurdish politician Ilham Ahmed and reiterated that they will setup a safe zone for the Kurds #TwitterKurds pic.twitter.com/7zlBuD9uvM
— Mutlu Civiroglu (@mutludc) January 29, 2019
Kurds in Syria and other locals are concerned that a “safe zone” administered by Turkey would result in an Afrin-like de facto occupation by the Turkish military and its proxy forces. That resulted in the displacement of 300,000 people, looting, destruction, and human atrocities.
US lawmakers are able to interrupt Trump’s plans through funding and use of force authorizations. Senator John Kennedy, a fellow Republican, did the latter on Monday.
“There must always be a moral component to America’s foreign policy, and it’s our moral responsibility to be loyal to our allies,” said Kennedy in a statement. “The Syrian Kurds were indispensable in our fight against ISIS in Syria, and we shouldn’t leave them high and dry."
He has introduced the Authorization for Use of Force to Defend the Kurds in Syria Resolution as an amendment to the Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act.
Additionally, US military officials have refused to acknowledge a troop reduction and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will hold a ministerial-level meeting for the 79 members in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS next week.
"The [US] plan is unclear, but what is clear is that the US seeks dialogue between us and Turkey so as to calm the situation and to reach a solution or a settlement that preserves the stability of the area and prevent any Turkish attack on our areas,” Ilham told AP in an interview published on Tuesday.
She added that the Turkish proposal for a safe zone would "transform" the area into military camps for "terrorist groups" and the rebel factions Turkey backs.
Afrin is facing a "thorough ethnic cleansing campaign and demographic change" due to systematic Turkish and rebel policies, she said.
"Thus, the mere talk of a Turkish-controlled safe zone means transforming this area into a Turkish colony and military camps for terrorist factions," she added.
Besides Iran’s presence in Syria and ISIS remnants across the country remain a threat, Ahmed added. Thus, they want "holistic assurances.”
Trump campaigned in 2016 on bringing US servicemen and women home. Many pundits have accused him of politicizing his withdrawal announcement for perceived electoral gains among his base. He tweeted that "tremendous progress" has been made since he made his announcement in December.
When I became President, ISIS was out of control in Syria & running rampant. Since then tremendous progress made, especially over last 5 weeks. Caliphate will soon be destroyed, unthinkable two years ago. Negotiating are proceeding well in Afghanistan after 18 years of fighting..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2019
The United States acknowledges that it has around 2,000 forces in Syria. Although the number is likely higher as Washington uses various means to obscure the number including Special Forces deployments, troop rotations, and the use of department of defense and state civilian and military contractors.
France and the United Kingdom are also known to have forces deployed in Syria.
Reporting by Namo Abdulla and The Associated Press and The Washington Post
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