US withdraws troops from Syria

In early October, President Donald Trump made the decision to withdraw around 1,000 U.S. troops from Syria as Turkish forces escalated its invasion on northern Syria, named Operation Peace Spring, to target Kurdish fighters. The decision for withdrawal sparked controversy because the Kurds, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces and considered terrorists by Turkey, had been a U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS. Over the past month, the withdrawal has left people across both parties divided on their opinions.

On Oct. 17, Vice President Mike Pence announced a U.S.-brokered five day ‘ceasefire’ with Turkey, which allowed Kurdish forces to withdraw from a Turkish-marked “safe zone” 20 miles into Syria from the Turkey-Syria border, according to CNN. Upon the withdrawal, the zone was ceded to Turkey, effectively extending Turkish territory. As reported by Al Jazeera, the ceasefire held sporadically and was followed by another ceasefire brokered between Turkey and Russia, which allowed for Turkey-Russia joint patrols in northern Syria starting Nov. 1. 

President Trump updated his withdrawal decision on Oct. 25, deciding to leave behind several hundred U.S. troops to protect the oil fields in Syria. According to The New York Times, at least 500 of the original U.S. troops have been withdrawn, but several hundred new troops have also been deployed.

U.S. officials told NBC that the main reason for the initial order was the fact that Turkish forces had set up more checkpoints on a crucial highway U.S. troops used to move safely in the northeast. Previously, the highway had allowed U.S. troops to avoid contact with Turkish forces.

President Trump’s decision left many debating whether or not it was the right call. According to CBS, many top Republican senators expressed their concern over President Trump’s new strategy, even those known to be the President’s Senate allies such as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). 

McConnell wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post criticizing President Trump’s strategy. “Withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria is a grave strategic mistake,” McConnell wrote, citing that it “will leave the American people and homeland less safe, embolden our enemies, and weaken important alliances.”

Likewise, many MCPS student opinions on the decision are also split, with some seeing it as a good decision and others seeing it as a misstep.

“I don’t have too much knowledge on this particular matter, but it seems to be that withdrawing the troops was the only option unless we wanted to keep risking their lives,” Rockville senior Miguee Abundo said, “But, I think if he had decided to keep the troops in Syria, that they could’ve helped to save more lives, but I don’t know if that’s worth creating more tension between countries.”

Other students believed it to be the wrong decision. 

“I think what President Trump did was somewhat wrong because now that he took away the troops there won’t be anything to stop [Turkish forces] from doing something wrong,” Rockville junior Jackie Argueta said. 

President Trump changed his initial order on Oct. 25 when he was informed that his decision to pull the troops would risk control of oil fields in the country. As stated in The Washington Post, President Trump did not want to risk losing control of the fields to the Islamic State. The Post also reported that officials who were against the initial decision to withdraw, including the Pentagon, are now glad that counterterrorism operations and airspace control can continue in Syria.

On the other hand, some MCPS students find the sudden change in the order confusing, now, amplifying instead of changing their previous opinions on the decision.

“My thoughts are, what made him change his mind?” Argueta said. “And why is he only leaving a certain amount of troops and not just keep all the troops that were already there to begin with?”

Currently, President Trump is focused on both the protection of the oil fields in northeastern Syria and counterrorism efforts against the Islamic State, according to The Washington Post. As of Nov. 10, up to 600 U.S. troops will remain in the region.

Article by Alexandra Amaya of Rockville High School

Graphic by Charles Wang of Walter Johnson High School