Erdogan Plays Spoiler to President Trump’s Mideast Strategy

Mideast watchers were surprised when President Trump appeared to condition a change in Mideast strategy based on a telephone conversation with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After the call, the U.S. president announced that he would withdraw American forces from Syria, leaving it to Turkey and Russia to clean up ISIS – which he said had been defeated, an assessment which left many flummoxed. Following days of intense blow-back by both opponents and political allies who said this time they could not support the chief executive, and after defense secretary James Mattis resigned and somewhat of an exodus from the department followed, President Trump backtracked: first saying the withdrawal would be slow and later modifying his statement reflecting an events’-based timetable. News of the policy change was delivered by National Security Adviser James Bolton while on a visit to Israel before moving on to Turkey. He told reporters that the change of heart came out of deference to Israel and to make sure the Turks did not move against the Kurdish fighters that have been loyal to the U.S. in the fight against ISIS. As most pundits correctly surmised, the latter was key to the president’s decision to backtrack. If there was any question, Erdogan made clear on Monday, after opting not to see the visiting Bolton, that he accepts no impediment to acting against the Kurds whom he sees as terrorists. Stay tuned.