'Spineless' Donald Trump was 'rolled' and 'out-negotitaed' by Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Source
President Donald Trump’s decision to move US troops from the war-ravaged nation of Syria has left a chaotic scenario both at home and abroad. While Trump’s own Republican Party was disappointed with his decision announced on Sunday, October 6, Washington’s Kurdish allies felt betrayed as the move left them in danger of facing violent backlash from Turkey and the beleagured Islamic State. Trump though has threatened Turkey with economic consequences if it did anything “off limits” in Syria but once the US moves out of the region it is less likely to have much control on ground realities.
Trump’s critics were not convinced with the president’s strong words though. Trump’s abrupt announcement came following his phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday and according to a source in the National Security Council (NSC), the former was “out-negotiated” and got "rolled” by the latter during their talks.
Second time Trump made the Syria announcement in 10 months
This is the second time in 10 months that Trump came up with a troop-withdrawal decision on Syria. Last December, he announced pulling all troops out of the nation over the objections of the Pentagon and it saw the then secretary of defense Jim Mattis resigning. Trump later partially stepped back, allowing a troop contingent to stay and one of the reasons was Turkey’s threat to the Kurds stationed in northern Syria. The Turkish leadership was not impressed with the delay on that occasion.
As per a report in Newsweek, the official, who claims to know what transpired during the telephonic talk, called Trump “spineless” and added that his actions left America in “a state of increased danger for decades to come”. The call was scheduled after Turkey announced that it was planning to invade Syria. Trump said after his call with Erdogan that he had discussed the plans and the US would remove all its forces from the “immediate area”. The announcement left even officials at the Defense Department, along with several other parties at home and abroad, “completely blindsided” and “shocked”.
‘We are not getting anything’
“President Trump was definitely out-negotiated and only endorsed the troop withdraw to make it look like we are getting something—but we are not getting something. The U.S. national security has entered a state of increased danger for decades to come because the president has no spine and that's the bottom line,” the NSC source told Newsweek on condition of anonymity. The source added that one would not be surprised to see Ankara making an incursion in the next 24-96 hours.
According to another official, the announcement to withdraw troops from Syria was made to make Trump look bold in matters of ending war though question was raised whether the attempt was successful at all, Daily Mail reported.
The NSC source even said that had the US decided against withdrawing from Syria, it could have persisted refining a buffer zone on the Syria-Turkey border. The official said the US would have done well to support a Kurdish nation across Turkey, Syria and Iraq as that could lead to another Israel in the region.