US-Turkish Ceasefire 'Parade' Lets Trump Take Credit For Saving Kurds - Ex-Senate Aide

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2019) US Vice President Mike Pence's announcement of a US-Turkish ceasefire was a performance designed to give the Trump administration credit for something already worked out by regional actors, former adviser to Senate Republican leaders Jim Jatras told Sputnik.

After talks with Turkish leaders on Thursday, Pence alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that a five-day ceasefire agreement had been reached to allow for the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from north Syria.

"This [ceasefire announcement] is Trump sending Pence and Pompeo out to run to the front of the parade to make it look like we're [United States] in the driver's seat," Jatras, who also served as a US Foreign Service Officer, said.

Turkey launched its military offensive in north Syria on October 10 after President Donald Trump decided to withdraw troops from the area, which prompted critics to accuse the US president of betraying the Kurds.

The key understanding, Jatras added, had already been reached by the leaders of Turkey, Russia, Syria and Iran and "all they needed from Trump was agreement to get out of the way."

The United States, Jatras continued, should never have been in Syria in the first place and the Kurds should never have expected that Washington would not abandon them "for at least the third time."

"Finally putting America First and getting out of where we don't belong is nothing to be ashamed of, if that in fact happens and this Trump decision is not reversed as previous ones were," Jatras said. "As Trump says, we should let the local interests handle it and the Syrian people."

The former Senate aide predicted that the US foreign policy establishment would go into a panic over Trump's decision to allow the Kurds to align with Russia and Syria.

"Get ready for 'the swamp' to scream bloody murder that Trump's 'colluding' with Russia," Jatras said.

The Syrian Kurds, he suggested, should have started a dialogue with Damascus a long time ago.

"Now they [the Kurds] have no choice unless they're foolish enough to try to hold out for a reversal of American policy," Jatras said.

The former US diplomat also warned that Ankara is still capable of smashing any geopolitical settlement.

"If Erdogan lets his neo-Ottoman ambitions get the better of him and tries to occupy large parts of Syria, he will replicate the Saudis' experience in Yemen as well as queer his relationship with Russia, China, Iran and what he hopes to gain through Eurasian integration," Jatras concluded.