The defeat of ISIS “is an integrated process based on drying up the intellectual resources and addressing the social and cultural factors that help the emergence and spread of the terror epidemic that threatens the entire world,” said Saadi Pira, PUK spokesperson, in comments published by the party’s media.
Pulling out of northern Syria, a region that has become a headquarters in the fight against extremism in Syria, “undermines the balance of power” in the country and the region, ultimately weakening global counter-terror efforts and puts at risk efforts to find a political solution to the Syria conflict, he argued.
The result will be “new wars… and bloody conflicts,” and puts the Kurds in Syria at “imminent risk,” he said.
America’s allies have widely criticized President Donald Trump’s shock decision to declare ISIS “defeated in Syria” and bring US troops home.
By all reports, the Pentagon was not involved in the decision. Trump’s Secretary of State James Mattis resigned over the matter.
Defense officials are considering an option that would allow small numbers of US special forces to be based in Iraq and “surge” across the border on raids, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous military officials. This would allow the US to continue its support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and would keep up the pressure on ISIS.
France and Britain, who both have troops on the ground in northern Syria, have said they will not follow Trump’s lead and order a withdrawal.
Aid agencies have warned that the US withdrawal could result in a new humanitarian crisis.
Pulling out some 2,000 US troops and American air power “will create a power vacuum that will likely lead to a new round of conflict,” said Hardin Lang, vice president of Refugees International.
“Renewed fighting will disrupt communities, displace additional populations, and could trigger another humanitarian crisis,” he said.
Civilian populations in northern Syria have few options of where to go if they have to flee. The border to Turkey is closed off to the north and west. Areas to the south are controlled by the regime, include expanses of desert, and end with the closed border to Jordan. The only option may be to go east, to the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
Middle East analyst Daniel Benaim advised the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to develop a humanitarian contingency plan in case of a resurgent ISIS in Syria or a Turkish attack on the Kurds.
