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President Donald Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria drew criticism from Republicans supporters and Democratic opponents alike.
Wednesday’s political cartoons focus on how Trump’s move abandoned Kurdish fighters in the region who now face a Turkish assault after fighting alongside Americans for years against the Islamic State.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, called Trump’s decision a “disaster,” while Syria’s Kurds accused the U.S. of turning its back on allies, according to the Associated Press.
Trump defended his decision, acknowledging in tweets Monday that “the Kurds fought with us” but adding that they “were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so.”
If the Turks go too far, he tweeted later, “I in my great and unmatched wisdom” will destroy their economy.
Two senior State Department officials later confirmed to AP that about two dozen American troops would be removed from the Turkey-Syria border, not all the U.S. forces in the northeast of the country.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened for months to launch a military operation across the Syrian border and said he views the Kurdish forces as a threat.
The two State Department officials said Turkey may not go through with a large-scale invasion and that the U.S. was trying to discourage it. But the New York Times reported Wednesday that Turkey did launch a military offensive, with strikes conducted in Tal Abyad in northern Syria and the border town of Ras al-Ayn, according to CNN.
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