In a rapid maneuver, Syrian government forces recently consolidated power over the northeastern areas of their country following the collapse of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The military operation, which followed a December 31 deadline for the Kurds to reintegrate and months of Kurdish refusals to do so, has prompted bitter accusations that the U.S. has “abandoned” the Kurds by allowing President Ahmed al-Sharaa to proceed.
While Americans should feel compassion for the Kurds in Syria, the narrative of U.S. “abandonment” is patently false. It misconstrues the origins of the U.S.-Kurdish partnership against ISIS, ignores the unsustainability of Kurdish occupation over Sunni Arab heartlands, and overlooks how the U.S. has protected Kurdish interests throughout Syria’s painful political transition.
The Syrian Kurds fought ISIS alongside the U.S. for self-preservation, not altruism. The danger the caliphate posed to the Kurds was existential and immediate while the threat to the U.S. was limited and remote. To the extent charity was involved, it came on the part of the United States.
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