Brett McGurk, who was America’s envoy to the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State group, said “there’s no plan for what’s coming next” and this is increasing the risk to US forces. It was the deadliest attack to hit US troops since they deployed to Syria in 2014 to assist local forces against the Islamic State group. Most importantly, said McGurk, the US cannot expect “a partner” such as NATO-ally Turkey to take the place of the United States. That is not a viable plan.”Trump announced the US withdrawal because, he said, IS had been defeated — something McGurk and other experts dispute. McGurk has previously warned that the US pullout would shore up Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and lessen America’s leverage with Russia and Iran.

Source: The Express Tribune January 21, 2019 06:11 UTC