Trump’s close aide kept him in the dark about US troop numbers in Syria

President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey, has made a startling revelation, stating that he kept Trump in the dark about the actual size of US troops in northern Syria, where Washington backs the YPG, Syrian arm of the PKK terror organisation.

“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” Jeffrey said in an interview published yesterday. The controversial statement came at a time when he is currently preparing to leave the Trump administration.

The US presence in northern Syria has helped the PKK, which is recognised as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU, consolidate its presence in the region. The PKK has led to tens of thousands of deaths during its decades-long terror campaign against the Turkish state. Ankara has constantly demanded from Washington to stop its support to the YPG/PKK, which has threatened Turkey’s both national and border security.

Under Turkish pressure, Trump last year announced US troop withdrawal from northern Syria. He faced immense criticism from American establishment figures like Republican Senator Lindsay Graham and former Pentagon chief James Mattis, who had several policy differences with the president and eventually quit from the top post on the heels of Trump’s decision to withdraw.

The US media, most of which has long been at loggerheads with Trump, also heavily criticised his decision to pull out.

As a result, Trump backtracked from his position and instead called to minimise US military presence in northern Syria.

From Jeffrey’s candid assertion that he willingly misled Trump on the size of US troops present in the region, it’s clear the American military footprint there has not diminished, despite President Trump repeatedly calling for the total withdrawal only last year.

“What Syria withdrawal? There was never a Syria withdrawal,” Jeffrey said.

In 2019, Trump said that the US would leave two hundred troops behind, an announcement that came following a crucial phone call with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has consistently stated that if Washington does not clear the PKK presence in northern Syria, Ankara will do it by itself.

Source : SANA + Agencies