President Trump claimed a diplomatic victory after Russia and Turkey took control of areas in northeastern Syria previously overseen by U.S. forces, even lifting sanctions on Turkey.
“This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else. No other nation; very simple.”
Trump is claiming credit for ending a problem that he created. After a conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and against the advice of many foreign-policy aides, Trump decided to withdraw U.S. forces from critical positions in northeastern Syria and abandon Kurdish troops that had been U.S. allies. His action was in effect a green light for Turkish-backed troops to invade…
As Trump spoke at the White House, his special envoy on the Syria crisis gave an entirely different message to lawmakers.
“We obviously had troops there for a mission and that mission was defeating ISIS,” Ambassador James Jeffrey told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “So if you remove those troops before that mission is complete, then you have a problem. And we do have a problem right now.”
Jeffrey added that the Turkish invasion “has scrambled the entire northeast, undercut our efforts against ISIS and brought in the Russians and Syrian regime forces in a way that’s really tragic for everyone involved.”