WASHINGTON - The United States has no immediate plans to fully withdraw its remaining forces in Syria, explained a high-ranking State Department official in a wide-ranging interview that covered a multitude of issues at the forefront President Joe Biden’s portfolio for Syria and Kurdish-led forces in the country. “We are planning to continue and complete our mission,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (DAS) for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan A. Goldrich said on Wednesday. Goldrich, who was speaking to Rudaw in an exclusive interview, is specifically responsible for the Levant and Syria engagement. “A pillar of our policy is to counter ISIS and prevent the resurgence of ISIS. So, the presence of [the] US military in Syria is specifically toward that effort to prevent the resurgence of ISIS, and we work together with our local partners toward that end,” he said. There are approximately 900 US troops in Syria, mostly in the northeast partnered with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS as part of the global anti-ISIS coalition. “We are not planning to withdraw from Syria. We are planning to continue and complete our mission to prevent a resurgence of ISIS and to counter ISIS and to work with our partners,” he added. After President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the United States formulated a Syrian policy that includes, “first and foremost, the need to counter ISIS and prevent the ISIS resurgence,” according to Goldrich. “It also has us trying to reduce suffering in Syria and increasing the flow of humanitarian assistance and it has us holding the regime accountable for the things that it did and maintaining ceasefires and trying to keep violence from spreading in Syria,” he said. The Biden administration - and previously that of President Barack Obama - says its forces are in Syria in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254 to help bring an end to the Syrian crisis. “Undergirding all of that is our support for 2254, and for a political process.” Goldrich noted, saying there’s no alternative “to the principles that are in there for finding Syrian-led, Syrian-conducted dialog that will lead to a resolution.” Goldrich expressed that Washington wants to see “the constitutional committee start to meet again,” attributing the lack of a concrete result so far to the continued governance of President Bashar Al-Assad. “We think that the biggest obstacle to implementing 2254 has been the regime's failure to cooperate,” he singled out. In recent years, some regional countries, including the US allies and partners, have taken measures to normalize relations with Assad’s government. Last year the Arab League reinstated Syria’s membership, which it had suspended at the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, a move with which the Biden administration doesn’t agree. “We don't support normalization with the regime, and we certainly are not normalizing with the regime,” Goldrich said, not directly indicating whether the US opposes other countries' engagement with Damascus. He encouraged other countries with engagement with the Syrian regime to “remain true to the principles of Security Council Resolution 2254, and if they are engaged, to look for ways that their engagement will help move us forward under 2254.” After the conflict erupted in 2011, different groups and local rulers emerged in Syria, including the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) - often called “Rojava” - which has a strong partnership with Washington because of a shared commitment to defeat ISIS and prevent its resurgence. The future of the Kurdish-led administration is uncertain, and the United States has not unveiled a clear policy for the Kurds’ future in Syria. “... [O]ur policy toward all of Syria is that under Resolution 2254, we want to see a solution that enables all Syrians to have a voice in what the future of Syria is going to be,” Goldrich said.n He also reiterated the US commitment to the “principle” that the territorial integrity of Syria absolute. “It's important to us that all the communities in the northeast, even now, since those areas have been liberated from ISIS and from the regime, for those areas to have inclusive political activity where all communities are part and for there to be dialogue between all the communities there,” Goldrich said. Goldrich expressed Washington’s concerns over the AANES’s intention to hold a local election this year. “One thing that we're concerned about right now, there is talk of an election in that area,” he said, “and we don't think that the conditions are in place for a free, fair, transparent, and inclusive election. “[W]e don't think that those conditions are in place. So, we don't think an election should be taking place in northeast Syria,” Goldrich said. In other parts of northern Syria, Turkey has continued cross-border operations and Ankara’s supported anti-Assad forces, some of which have been linked to Al-Qaeda. This has set the stage for possible large-scale clashes between Kurdish and Turkish forces as the decade-plus-long conflict in Syria moves into its next phase. “First of all, Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States, and we talk to Turkey on many different issues around the world, including on Syria, and we have shared concerns…” Goldrich said. “We share counterterrorism concerns in Syria and the fight against ISIS, and we share humanitarian concerns and the need for cross-border assistance to be able to flow,” he added, stressing the protection of civilians and infrastructure in the war-ravaged country. US humanitarian aid to Syrians since 2011 stands at $17.8 billion, according to Goldrich.. “Just in the last few months, in May, at the Brussels donors conference, we announced $593 million for humanitarian assistance. We also provide $98 million for stabilization assistance,” Goldrich noted. “The humanitarian assistance is available in all areas of Syria; we're trying to provide humanitarian assistance. We're also trying to provide humanitarian assistance to Syrians who are outside of Syria, the refugee communities in Turkey and Lebanon and Jordan. And the stabilization assistance is more directed toward the areas that were liberated from ISIS and the non-regime areas of the country,” he explained. Foremost of humanitarian and ongoing security concerns in Syria is Al-Hol Camp in Hasaka province, where around 40,000 people linked to ISIS have been held since 2019. “We're also providing specific assistance into the Al-Hol camp for the displaced persons there to make sure that there's humanitarian assistance available for the people there until their situations are resolved and they're able to be resettled or repatriated back to their countries,” Goldrich said. Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria have repeatedly called on the international community to repatriate their nationals from the camps, but their calls have largely gone unanswered as most countries are unwilling to bring back their citizens due to security concerns.
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