Kurdish Hopes for U.S. Support Dashed Again

(Washington Post) Liz Sly - President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria represented yet another setback to Kurdish aspirations for some form of statehood, which have repeatedly met disappointment at the hands of the U.S. The letdowns began after President Woodrow Wilson pushed for but failed to secure a separate Kurdish state at the 1919 peace conference following World War I. In 1975, the U.S. abandoned support for a Kurdish uprising in Iraq after President Saddam Hussein struck a deal with their ally, the Shah of Iran. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush encouraged Iraqis to rise up against Saddam, but when the Kurds responded, the U.S. refrained from going to their aid. Most recently, the Trump administration last year withheld support for an independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan, and Iraqi troops rolled unopposed into areas the Kurds had controlled.


2018-12-24 00:00:00

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