https://www.npr.org/2019/10/19/771546293/kurdish-general-slams-u-s-syria-policy-gen-petraeus-calls-withdrawal-a-betrayalIn an interview on Saturday, former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus told NPR's Michel Martin that he agrees with McConnell's strongly-worded assessment. Petraeus, the former commander of Central Command in charge of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said the policy was unfair to Kurdish fighters who had been key U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS.
"The Kurds always used to say ... that [they] have no friends but the mountains, and I would reassure them," Petraeus said. "I would say, 'Americans are your friends.' ... And sadly, this is arguably a betrayal."
Petraeus told NPR the withdrawal of American forces has turned what was a stable area in Syria, where more than 10,000 Kurdish-led forces had been killed in the fight against ISIS, into "a scramble."
As NPR's Jane Arraf has reported, the short period of conflict this month has led to up to 200 civilian casualties and the displacement of about 200,000 people.
Petraeus said that he understands the desire to reduce the toll on U.S. troops overseas but that in the region being disputed along Syria's border with Turkey, "we'd essentially done that."
"We had less than 1,500 [troops]," Petraeus said. He added that those forces included special operations forces who played an important role in the U.S. campaign there — "but surely that's affordable for the world's only military superpower."
"What we were doing was not fighting on the front lines — we were enabling those who were doing that," Petraeus said. It was U.S. allies — Kurdish-backed forces — "who bore the brunt of the fighting on the front lines."
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