Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds

Illustration+by+Lanh+Tran

Illustration by Lanh Tran

Nidhi Jaltare, Columnist

The only way America survived the war against the Islamic State was with the help of Syrian-Kurds, who lost their lives alongside American soldiers trying to protect the world from ISIS. And now, they’ve been abandoned. They have nowhere to go, no one to help them and they are stuck in carnage. This bloodbath, this massacre and this pain was caused by a single phone call between the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and President Donald Trump. 

Trump caused the displacement of 10,000 Syrians. You have to be really skilled at being inept to cause a humanitarian crisis because of a phone call. Erdogan called Trump, and the call was full of threats by the Turkish president. Trump warned Erdogan that if Turkey launched a large military operation, the U.S. would completely withdraw from Syria, according to one senior U.S. official. Hours later, the American troops in Syria were told to leave. Turkey was moving into Northern Syria, and Syria and the Kurds were left on their own to survive.

This withdrawal is benefitting Turkey, Russia, Iran and the Syrian dictator’s regime, which is what the United States was initially trying to protect Syria from. The Syrian-Kurds, who have been abandoned, are now desperate and befriended Bashar al-Assad. They’re trapped. They saved our lives from ISIS, and we left them to die. 

Trump announced that he wanted to bring our soldiers home, where they belong. However, a lot of these troops are going to Saudi Arabia. Is that home? Are we making America great again by betraying the trust of our allies? The next time America gets in trouble, which probably will happen, it’s going to be all alone. No one trusts the United States. I wouldn’t trust them if I were making political choices. 

The United States poured gasoline on Syria while they were trying to tame the flames against us, and now Turkey is about to light the gasoline on fire. It’s spreading at a rate such that not a thousand fire extinguishers could calm it down. Hundreds of ISIS prisoners have escaped detention camps. There are innocent women who ended up marrying ISIS members without realizing they were marrying terrorists. These women are now stuck in the unrest because of the area where they’re detained. They are lost. Hospitals are packed and there isn’t enough water. The Turkish forces manned by Jihadi extremists are executing Kurdish prisoners. Russian troops are already in the areas that American troops have withdrawn from. 

A couple of days after the flames started to spread, Trump said he would destroy Turkey’s economy if Turkey invades. My guess is that when Trump tries to do something, Erdogan will call him, chat for a bit and more people will end up dying. To this administration, life doesn’t mean too much.