For those who dont know, Trump recently announced a withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria as part of an agreement where Turkish forces to the north will swoop in and handle the areas themselves. This would most negatively impact the Kurds, a religious minority located in Northern Iraq and parts of neighboring countries along the northern Iraqi border, who have long been the subject of persecution and attacks by Turkish forces. The fact that Turkey has grown far more authoritarian over a very short period of time also does not bode well for the well being of the Kurds, who played a key role in rolling back ISIS out of Iraq since Iraqi forces themselves are laughably inept.
Basically, the pull out out of Syria leaves maybe the one decent ally the US has in the Middle East at the complete mercy of a corrupt authoritarian regime after they did us a massive favor in beating the shit out of ISIS for us while we relied on drone warfare.
Democrats and Republicans alike have condemned the move, even Pentagon officials commented that they were not consulted about the decision before Trump went ahead with it, but I am in favor of the move... My personal belief is that the Middle East is an overall shitshow where a complete withdrawal from the region would be in the US's best interest. No country in the Middle East is worth allying with at the moment and havent been for at least 10 to 20 years now, either because of instability, inherent corruption, or both.
- Egypt at one point was governed by the Muslim Brotherhood and is now basically under military occupation after multiple regime changes made by force took place all within this decade.
- Syria has triggered the biggest migration crisis in the world and is ruled by a man who has used chemical weapons against his own people and is being propped up by Iran and Russia
- Yemen is in the middle of a Civil War themselves as part of a proxy war being fought between the Saudis and Iranians
- Iran is funding factions in Syria and Yemen that have intensified ongoing conflicts there already, as well as funding hyper religious groups like Hezbollah actively attempting to destabilize Israel and other countries in the region
- Saudi Arabia is an oppressive oil kingdom that is using its military might to bend neighboring countries to their own will rather than being a stabilizing force in the region.
- Israel is ruled by a religious fundamentalist who has been itching to go to war with Iran for a decade now while repeatedly trampling the rights of Muslims within the country to turn Israel into a truly Jewish state, all while spying on the US at rates that almost rival China.
- Qatar is using its wealth based off of natural gas to try to muscle its way into the power struggle, and is actively trying to interfere with the goals and ambitions of both Iran and Saudi Arabia rather then use their wealth to focus on themselves.
- Iraq is basically an Iranian satellite state since the Shia minority government we put in power have effectively ceded authority of the area to the Iranians in exchange for bribes and/or religious beliefs
- Jordan is teetering on collapse because of rampant austerity cuts made by their king that bludgeoned the lower and middle classes while also disproportionally funding any initiative that undermines Israel.
- Afghanistan is once again being swallowed up by Taliban forces because they still rank near the bottom of the world in every economic quality despite nearly 20 years of occupational security by US forces
- Pakistan has used the wealth granted to it by the US to beef up its faceoff with India rather then be a security safezone in the eastern part of the region
The only countries that have at least not contributed to regional instability are Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, though each has a number of concerning human rights abuses and disproportionate wealth gap between the very rich and the middle class.
The point is, I dont see any country in the Middle East that is worth risking region wide instability or accepting the risk of future terrorism attacks just to prop up. The entire region is basically the grounds for a three way religious holy war between Jewish Israel, Sunni Saudi Arabia, and Shi'ite Iran where any country the US sets up shop in just becomes another target for either regimes or terrorist radicals to potentially target. Our newfound oil wealth thanks to fracking has also reduced our national energy dependence on the region, so we can afford to get out of the entanglement now more than ever.
By pulling out of Syria, and effectively saying 'you know what, fuck it', we take that first step towards getting out of the mess. The next steps are to pull out troops from Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, etc. The smaller of a footprint the US leaves in the Middle East, the smaller of a chance that the US or its citizens and allies becomes from targeted by forces that could attack us, or inspire those within our borders to launch attacks of their own.
