Monday, June 18, 2018

The Manbij Deal

This was the deal that is supposed to reduce US-Turkey tensions over Manbij to balance American defense of the Kurds west of the Euphrates River in Syria against Turkey's goal of building a buffer zone from the Euphrates River west to the Mediterranean Sea to keep jihadis (and Kurdish terrorists) from flowing from Syria to Turkey:

In the northwest the Kurds have agreed to withdraw the town of Manbij while leaving it under the control of Kurdish and American troops and government and foverened by a local council representing the ethnic population of the town. This eliminates the risk of a clash between American and Turkish forces over Manbij.

Fingers crossed. But I'm still not satisfied that Turkey is reliable enough to be trusted with the F-35, as it seems they will be.