The Manbij Military Council.

The Manbij Military Council.

When Allies Become Enemies (Before the War is Over), Obama's ISIS Plan Has Another Problem

The U.S. wanted Turkish and Kurdish fighters to fight, but not fight each other. Now the administration is scrambling to keep local allies with their own interests focused on America's goal: defeating ISIS.

The killing of Islamic State co-founder, operations overseer, and key spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani is good news for the U.S. military and its coalition of forces fighting the terrorist group inside Syria. But it comes after a week that has shown just how hard it is for the U.S. to keep members of the counter-ISIS coalition aligned and focused on the fight against ISIS rather than one another.

Turkey, America’s NATO ally and Incirlik Air Base host, is critical to the U.S. fight against ISIS. So are the Kurdish forces, the YPG and YPJ, who have been leading the frontline fight that is squeezing the ISIS “caliphate” to its core. But in the last week those two allies against ISIS (but adversaries to one another) have collided. Suddenly, the fight against ISIS, right at the moment when it is gaining momentum, is stuck in the crossfire between Turks and Kurds, leaving American officials to de-conflict the situation among their own coalition partners.

America’s war planners once again find themselves in a situation that shows how tricky just-in-time policymaking can be when relying on local forces who have their own interests to pursue, not just Washington’s.

In some ways this is the natural extension of what has come to be known as the Obama Doctrine – in which the U.S. would seek local forces to fight their own wars, send limited numbers of American troops, but not commit large numbers of U.S. forces. Right now U.S. troops, particularly special operations forces, are on the ground as advisers leading an advise and-assist mission against ISIS, but they are not leading the way into battle.

This policy means that most of the several thousand American forces operating inside Iraq and Syria do not face the same risks and dangers U.S. troops faced when there were more than 160,000 in Iraq and 100,000 in Afghanistan fighting and dying by the thousands. It also means that, as one person close to the fight told Defense One, American forces are operating from a distance and without the same level of precise control of either operation or outcome. This makes the messy fight on the ground between the Turks and the Kurds — both U.S. allies in the American-led fight against ISIS — easy to anticipate but harder to resolve once it occurs.

Others close to the ISIS fight say that when it comes to U.S. policy, information flow inside the administration has been tricky at best and nonexistent at worst, a fact that is complicated by the complex dynamics on the ground among allies who are sometimes at odds.

“This is not going to turn out well; it starts with the basics of using locals as our infantry,” says former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey, who has been critical of the Obama administration for limiting U.S. military intervention against ISIS to rely so heavily on local fighters. “Letting them do it isn't working out too well, is it, when they start fighting each other?”

Indeed, it is hard to understand why policy is being made seemingly on the fly when the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds was so easy to foresee. And when both partners matter — but one clearly matters more.

“We have made it absolutely clear to the elements that were part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the YPG that participated, that they must move back across the river,” Vice President Joe Biden said last week in Ankara. “They cannot, will not, and under no circumstances get American support if they do not keep that commitment, period.” 

For his part, the Turkish Prime stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Biden and called America’s allies part of the problems.

“The U.S. should know that at the end of the day, you might maybe use a terrorist organization to defeat another one, but what you have in hand at the end of the day is that terrorist organization that you used, or that you benefitted from, and how do you deal with that terrorist organization?” said Prime Minister Binali Yildrim. “In order not to have a greater threat, I think that would be the right approach with regard to PYD and YPG.”

A few days later, on Monday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter called for both sides to play nicely as he tried to negotiate calm among the key American allies.

“We've called on both sides to not fight with one another, to continue to focus the fight on ISIL. That's the basis of our cooperation with both of them. And specifically, not to engage one another and to retain those geographic commitments that they've made,” he said at the Pentagon. “We do understand that they have historical differences with one another, but American interests are quite clear. We are -- we, like they, want to combat ISIL and we want -- we're calling on them all now. Let's keep our priorities clear here in helping them to deconflict, so to speak, on the battlefield.”

On Tuesday, Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command which overseas the war and former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, which fields America’s elite troops in the fight, spoke of the challenge he faces after getting a battery of questions from Pentagon reporters who wanted to know how he dealt with American allies threatening one another.

“Generally speaking, I do believe our approach, which requires that we work by, with, and through the indigenous forces, is working,” Votel said, before acknowledging the intra-coalition fight. “What we are trying to do is ensure that we keep all of our partners focused on ISIL at this point. It's not helpful to — in-fighting among themselves, we don't want that. We're working to prevent that.”

Add one more task to the fight against ISIS.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.