LONDON: The leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces has said Washington has reassured him that it will not abandon them, following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan last month.
The Biden administration sent both Gen. Frank McKenzie, a senior military officer in charge of US Central Command, and Joey Hood, assistant secretary of state who heads up Middle East affairs at the State Department, to give reassurances to Mazloum Abdi that similar scenes will not be repeated in Syria.
He said locals under his protection have been shaken by what happened in Afghanistan. “Let’s be honest, after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan people were afraid. They were afraid they might face the same situation,” he told The Times.
Washington still has some 900 troops deployed in eastern Syria, and Britain is thought to have a regular deployment of special forces personnel in the region, although no official confirmation has been given as per UK Ministry of Defense policy.
The official line on the deployment of US-led troops in Syria is that they are supporting the SDF to eradicate the final collections of Daesh fighters in a nefarious space that is locked in by borders with Turkey and Iraq and land controlled by the Assad regime.
Abdi said the Biden administration quickly responded to his concerns, sending envoys to eastern Syria to meet with him.
“They reassured us that this is not Afghanistan. They said the policy was totally different,” he said, adding that he would prefer it if Washington promised to stay in the area until the Syrian conflict is concluded with a political settlement.
Abdi expressed hope that US support toward the end of the conflict might help secure formal recognition of Kurdish autonomy.
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