Trump Pulls U.S. Troops Back From Northern Syria After Phone Call With Erdogan, Resolving Long-Standing Concern That The Fighters Who Defeated ISIS For America Could Still Count On It

The Filing

WASHINGTON. Following a Sunday telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Trump announced that United States forces would step aside in northeastern Syria, removing the final obstacle to a Turkish military operation against the Kurdish-led fighters who had spent five years serving as America's principal ground partner in the war against the Islamic State.

The pullback cleared a region held by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a militia that had lost roughly 11,000 personnel retaking territory from ISIS on Washington's behalf and that had been guarding tens of thousands of captured ISIS fighters and family members in detention camps the United States had asked it to maintain. Within days, Turkish forces launched an offensive into the area, the security of several camps was thrown into question, and Russian troops moved to occupy bases the departing Americans had just vacated.

Pressed on the decision to leave a wartime ally exposed, the President offered a sequence of clarifications. "They didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with Normandy," Mr. Trump said of the Kurds, before explaining that the moment had come to extract the country from "endless wars." In a written message to Mr. Erdogan that the White House later confirmed was authentic, the President advised, "Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!" and signed off, "I will call you later."

Administration officials stressed that the move carried no consequence the President had not personally anticipated. Earlier in the week, Mr. Trump had reassured the region of his restraint, posting that should Turkey do anything he deemed "off limits," he would "totally destroy and obliterate" its economy, "as I have done before," in his "great and unmatched wisdom." The warning issued from the same office that had just removed the troops whose presence had deterred the invasion.

The realignment delivered a long-sought objective to nearly every government with a stake in the region except the one that had done the fighting. Turkey obtained the buffer zone it wanted, Russia obtained the basing it wanted, the Syrian government recovered territory, Iran gained a weakened rival on its border, and the Islamic State gained the most favorable detention conditions its fighters had seen in years.

At press time, the President was accepting credit for bringing the troops home, having relocated a number of them from Syria to guard oil fields a short drive away.

Who Benefits

§Donald J. Trump, who converted the abandonment of an ally into an "ending endless wars" applause line for his base, and who has long acknowledged a personal interest in a country where his company licenses its name to Trump Towers Istanbul.
§Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish government, handed the green light to invade northern Syria and establish the buffer zone Ankara had demanded for years.
§Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation, who moved into the vacuum within days, patrolling bases the United States had abandoned and positioning Moscow as the new power broker in the region.
§Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government, which recovered territory it had lost without having to fire on a single American soldier.
§Iran, which saw a U.S.-aligned Kurdish force on its flank weakened at no cost to Tehran.
§The Islamic State, whose captured fighters were held in detention camps left less securely guarded amid the Turkish offensive.
§The administration's "endless wars" branding, which recast the exposure of a loyal partner as the fulfillment of a campaign promise.
§Future presidents, who inherit the precedent that a years-long U.S. security partnership can be ended over the course of a single phone call.

Sourced to the public record · presented without editorial embellishment