Trump hails Syria cease-fire after he played role in crisis
President Donald Trump framed the U.S.-brokered
cease-fire deal with Turkey as “a great day for civilization,” but its effect
was largely to mitigate a foreign policy crisis widely seen to be of his own
making.
After hours of negotiation in Ankara, the two
nations on Thursday agreed to a five-day cease-fire in the Turks’ deadly
attacks on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, but some fighting continued
early Friday in a northeast Syrian border town. The Kurds were U.S. allies in
the fight against the Islamic State group but came under assault after Trump
ordered U.S. troops to leave the area earlier this month.
The agreement requires the Kurds to vacate a swath
of territory in Syria along the Turkish border in an arrangement that largely
solidifies Turkey’s position and aims in the weeklong conflict.
Vice President Mike Pence, who reached the deal with
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hailed the agreement as the way to end
the bloodshed caused by Turkey’s invasion.
But he remained silent on whether it amounted to a
second abandonment of America’s former Kurdish allies, many of whom are branded
as terrorists by Ankara. The deal includes a conditional halt to American
economic sanctions and no apparent long-term consequences for Turkey for its
actions.
