President Donald Trump met earlier this month with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the de-facto leader of Syria, and signaled that he’s open to normalizing relations, including by lifting the crippling Assad-era sanctions. Regardless of what diplomatic arrangement is reached, the White House should formulate a plan to allow all American military members to safely leave Syria. The longer we keep American personnel in a rapidly changing part of the world where no vital U.S. interest is at stake, the more difficult it will be to prevent an unnecessary loss of life if the situation falls apart.
Less than two weeks after Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell last December, the Pentagon admitted that nearly twice as many U.S. troops had been sent there than previously claimed, only to watch the country fall into bloody chaos. Clearly, an American presence is not enough to prevent violence. In any case, it is not our job to risk American lives to maintain order in every corner of the world.
The two main points pro-interventionists have made on why an American military presence in Syria is necessary are that the U.S. serves as a deterrent to Iran’s influence in the region and that we should support our allies against terrorist groups like ISIS. These points were not strong when we originally stationed troops in Syria, but in light of recent events, they have become even weaker.
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