Pentagon seeks to soothe Turkish fears over Syria border security request
The Defense Department insists that its $300 million request to train and equip Syrian forces won’t be used to create a Kurdish-dominated “border guard” on Turkey’s doorstep.
The Pentagon is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars to train Syrian fighters near the Turkish frontier while tamping down Ankara’s fears of a Kurdish-led border force.
The fiscal year 2019 budget blueprint released Monday calls for $300 million to train and equip the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces and $250 million for “border security requirements” related to the mission to counter the Islamic State (IS). The Pentagon released a statement today suggesting that the border security funding was meant to support US partners in Syria, only to later clarify that the money is meant to support the governments of Lebanon and Jordan to combat the crippled Sunni insurgency along with “other violent extremists, illicit weapons, as well as narcotics smuggling.”
