Not everyone agrees with the condemnations of the president’s decision, however, including Robert Ford, former U.S. ambassador to Syria.
“Americans have to be realistic. The problems of ISIS and the Syrian Kurds are not going be settled by 2,000 American special forces,” Ford told NPR on Friday. “There are political, economic, social problems, and really only Syrians, not Americans, can fix those problems. The American forces have been in Syria for years now and these problems are still there. ISIS is smaller, it can be managed by Syrians, and it should be managed by Syrians.”
Several observers also said Washington’s Syria strategy had always been lacking, and indefinitely remaining there to counter Iranian influence was unsustainable. Those who support maintaining a military presence, critics charged, were far too optimistic about what the U.S. could achieve.
“The arrogance of it all — Syria was never America’s to lose,” Aaron David Miller, a vice president and Middle East Program director at the Wilson Center think tank, wrote on Twitter.
Still, others said the lack of warning or communication with partners will leave a damaging mark on America’s record.
“I don’t think Washington ‘owed’ the YPG an indefinite military presence in Syria, but it did owe them a competent decision making process and a well-planned withdrawal,” tweeted Nicholas Danforth, a senior policy analyst at the Washington-based Bipartisan Policy Center.
from Viral News Updates http://bit.ly/2EHdKvK
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