Defense secretary insists US has not abandoned Kurds
By Ellen Mitchell - 10/11/19 04:23 PM EDT
Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday insisted that the United States had not abandoned Turkish allies by pulling U.S. troops from northeast Syria.
The Kurdish forces have since come under attack by Turkey, which had pressed the White House to remove the U.S. troops.
“To be clear, we are not abandoning our Kurdish partner forces and U.S. troops remain with them in other parts of Syria,†Esper told reporters at the Pentagon.
President Trump announced on Monday that Turkey would proceed with a long-planned offensive in northern Syria and that U.S. forces would be withdrawn from the area.
Esper said Friday that up to 50 special operation forces — of about 1,000 U.S. troops in the country — had been moved from “two small outposts†near the Syrian border.
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https://thehill.com/policy/defense/465462-defense-secretary-insists-us-has-not-abandoned-kurds
