https://themilitant.com/2019/01/05/trump-plan-to-draw-down-troops-in-syria-afghanistan-stirs-debate/
Trump plan to draw down troops in Syria, Afghanistan stirs debate
By Terry Evans
Vol. 83/No. 2
January 14, 2019
Syrian child in refugee camp, in Lebanon, 2014. Yearslong war grew out
of Syrian dictatorship’s brutal assault on popular rebellion, and
interventions by Washington, Tehran, Moscow and other capitalist powers,
leading to over 400,000 killed and millions driven from their homes.
Reuters/Hassan Abdallah
Syrian child in refugee camp, in Lebanon, 2014. Yearslong war grew out
of Syrian dictatorship’s brutal assault on popular rebellion, and
interventions by Washington, Tehran, Moscow and other capitalist powers,
leading to over 400,000 killed and millions driven from their homes.
President Donald Trump announced plans Dec. 19 to withdraw U.S. troops
from Syria and cut by nearly half Washington’s forces in Afghanistan.
The decision galvanized some in his administration, and pro-war liberal
Democrats and Republicans alike, into calling for the troops to remain.
Trump had campaigned on and promised during the presidential election
that he would pull U.S. troops out of these “never ending wars.” He
tweeted Dec. 31, “Just doing what I said I was going to do.”
Such a move doesn’t mean the U.S. rulers aim to give up defense of their
position in the Middle East and South Asia. They have a series of bases;
some 50,000 troops; massive armories of missiles, bombs and artillery;
hundreds of warplanes; and the Fifth Fleet all deployed there.
Trump told Fox News Dec. 31 that Washington would remain fully engaged
in Syria and the region. “We have other bases in the general area,” he
said. “In particular, we have one in Iraq.”
The U.S. rulers’ intervention in Syria followed the two wars they fought
in Iraq and their 17-year-long war in Afghanistan. In each conflict they
acted on the illusion that they had won the Cold War and could impose
subservient governments wherever they chose. But Washington’s wars in
Iraq furthered the breakup of the imperialist-imposed order in the
Middle East. The U.S. rulers also failed to defeat the Taliban and
extend the rule of the Afghan government across the country.
The devastating results of the Syrian civil war fall most heavily on
working people. As does the efforts of the Iranian rulers to extend
their counterrevolutionary reach by sending their military forces and
proxy militias into the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
The Socialist Workers Party has long demanded the immediate withdrawal
of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere around the
Mideast. In a statement “Solidarity with the Working People of Syria,”
published in the Militant in 2016, the party’s presidential candidate,
Alyson Kennedy, said: “Syrian toilers need the space to mobilize in
political action, to learn in struggle, to be transformed from victims
into conscious actors in history. All the imperialist and capitalist
forces intervening in Syria today are obstacles to this course. We
oppose the U.S. rulers’ involvement in the war in Syria and Iraq and
call for Washington, its allies and others — from London and Paris to
Moscow, Ankara and Tehran — to withdraw their warplanes, ships and
troops now.”
U.S. rulers’ role in Syria war
Washington relied on the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to lead
the ground fighting to drive Islamic State from its Syrian strongholds.
The U.S. rulers were unwilling to pay the political price in deaths and
injuries by deploying its own ground forces. Instead, they provided arms
and air cover to the YPG and stationed their small troop deployment in
areas of eastern Syria that the YPG controls. The Kurds are an oppressed
people who have fought for their national rights against the rulers in
Iran, Iraq, Turkey, as well as in Syria.
During Syria’s civil war the YPG carved out an autonomous Kurdish zone
that the Syrian government vows to retake. Their territory lies on the
border of the Kurdish-majority region in Turkey.
Ankara threatens war on Kurds
With Trump’s withdrawal announcement, the YPG feared it would be left to
face attacks from the capitalist rulers in Turkey. The government of
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has massed troops and tanks on
the border and pledged to invade and destroy the YPG, fearing its gains
will inspire Kurds in Turkey to step up efforts to win autonomy there.
In the wake of the Trump administration’s announcement of plans to pull
out, the Turkish government said it would hold off its threatened
assault on the YPG. Around 300 Syrian government troops were deployed to
the outskirts of Manbij in late December, after the YPG called on the
Syrian government to defend the town from Ankara’s threatened assault.
For now U.S.-led coalition jets and attack helicopters continue to fly
over the area and the YPG-led Manbij Military Council controls the town.
The U.S. administration is pressing the Turkish regime to back off its
invasion threats and take more responsibility for assuring “stability”
in Syria. When Trump told Erdogan on the phone he intended to withdraw,
he said, “It’s yours,” the Washington Post reported.
The 2,000 troops Washington says it will withdraw from Syria are not
central to its drive against the Iranian rulers expanding military
influence. Trump dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu Jan. 1 to organize stepped-up
collaboration in the region.
“The counter I[slamic] S[tate] campaign continues, our efforts to
counter Iranian aggression continues, and our commitment to Middle East
stability and the protection of Israel continues in the same way,”
Pompeo told Netanyahu.
Days after the troop withdrawal announcement, the Israeli rulers Dec. 25
bombed an arms depot controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard near
Damascus, the Syrian capital.
And the U.S. rulers are having success in forcing their capitalist
rivals to go along with their expanding sanctions on Iran, which have
sharply affected the country’s oil exports. The subsequent rise in
prices of basic necessities has hit working people there hard.
The president’s withdrawal announcement was opposed by forces within his
own administration who disagree with his general course. Defense
Secretary James Mattis resigned.
The announcement was also denounced by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham,
who claimed it was “a big gift” to Tehran and the Iranian rulers’ moves
to expand their reach.
Trump placated some of his critics when he said the U.S. withdrawal
would be done “slowly,” taking at least four months, to assure it is
done in a “safe and orderly” manner. After meeting with Trump Dec. 30,
Graham backtracked on his criticism.
Both the administration and its opponents who press for more direct
military intervention seek to advance the predatory interests of the
U.S. capitalist rulers.
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In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Join Socialist Workers Party 2019 campaign!
•US troops out of Middle East, Afghanistan now!
•Judge affirms Chicago cops used torture in frame-up case
•SWP members gear up to take Militant, books door to door
•Los Angeles teachers, supporters rally before Jan. 10 strike deadline
•Trump plan to draw down troops in Syria, Afghanistan stirs debate
•Reader points in right direction
Feature Articles •Nan Bailey: ‘True to her revolutionary convictions
every day of her life’
Also In This Issue •‘Yellow vest’ actions continue to press needs of
French toilers
•‘Militant’ fight against prison censors draws attention
•The Kurds’ decadeslong fight to gain a homeland
•Messages: ‘Nan listened. She was interested’
•‘Selfless, disciplined, loving to a fault’
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― Jules Verne