Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster criticized President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from northeastern Syria, saying the deployment was “immensely helpful” to U.S. security and interests.
While speaking Thursday during an event at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C., McMaster said the administration did not recognize the role U.S. forces played in the region.
“So what’s unfortunate, I think, about the decision is I think a lot of people who may have been talking to the president, or the president himself, may not have focused maybe on the importance of that force in connection with defeating the terrorist organization, but also having the influence necessary to ultimately help end this catastrophe across the greater Middle East,” McMaster said.
The deployment served the purpose of “preventing what we see now, which is a Turkish-Kurdish civil war that has profound political as well as humanitarian consequences in the region,” McMaster said. Additionally, he said it helped prevent Syrian President Bashar Assad and his ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, from taking hold of 65% to 70% of Syria’s oil reserves.
Turkey launched its long-expected military incursion into northern Syria on Wednesday, targeting the Kurdish YPG. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the operation would also counter ISIS forces, but initial reports show the Kurds as the primary target. The YPG has served as the main ground force in the U.S.-led anti-ISIS campaign for several years, but Turkey considers it a wing of the PKK, a designated terrorist group and longtime Turkish adversary.
Turkey’s operation followed a White House statement on Sunday announcing the withdrawal of U.S. forces from northeast Syria. Administration officials later said the troops were only relocating elsewhere in the country. Trump defended the decision as part of his promise to put a stop to “stupid endless wars” but warned on Monday he would “totally destroy and obliterate” Turkey’s economy should it do anything considered “off limits.”
McMaster said he believes the decision has created the possibility of “four simultaneous crises,” including the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, “an intensification of the Syrian civil war,” destabilization in Iraq, and an opportunity for Iran to expand its proxy network in the region.
