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Kurds Fear Western Sellout after They Defeat ISIS in Raqqa

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Fabrice Balanche - The Democratic Union Party (PYD) of the Syrian Kurds, who are leading the attack on Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State, knows that the U.S. guards Rojava, the Kurds' enclave in Syria, against Turkish attack. But once Raqqa is liberated, the Syrian Kurdish group will seemingly become a dispensable ally for Washington. Amid such uncertainty, the PYD has an interest in prolonging the Raqqa battle. The PYD today senses that the Russian presence in Syria is more durable than that of the U.S., and that when faced with a choice between Rojava and Turkey, the West will choose Turkey. This explains why the Syrian Kurds likely see a partnership with Russia as the best way to preserve their territorial gains over the long term. When the U.S. ended its support for Syrian rebels earlier this summer, it demonstrated bad faith to its purported allies. The PYD and Arab proxies will now be reluctant to wholeheartedly support any U.S. strategy in eastern Syria without serious long-term guarantees. The writer is an associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon 2 and a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute.
2017-08-18 00:00:00
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