US is not abandoning Kurds in face of Turkish attack

Top Pentagon officials on Friday denied the U.S. is abandoning its Syrian Kurdish allies in the face of a Turkish military offensive, although the future of a counterterrorism partnership with the Kurds was in grave doubt.

“We have not abandoned the Kurds. Let me be clear about that,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters. “We have not abandoned them. Nobody green-lighted this operation by Turkey — just the opposite. We pushed back very hard at all levels for the Turks not to commence this operation.”

--skip--

Esper’s remarks appeared aimed at strengthening the Trump administration’s argument that it did all it could to stop the Turks and, failing that, was left with no reasonable option but to pull some U.S. troops away from the border. It’s unclear how far the Turks will take their offensive, how badly the Kurds will be hit and whether U.S. forces will be compelled to withdraw entirely in coming days.

Many have called the limited U.S. pullback a grave mistake. Even some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest Republican supporters have sharply criticized it as a decision that opened the door for the Turkish invasion. Some regard Trump’s move as a betrayal of the U.S.-armed Kurdish fighters who have, at great cost, partnered with American forces against the Islamic State group since 2015.

https://www.apnews.com/412849d1224a40a19f5d535087a37310