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U.S. Moves toward Open-Ended Presence in Syria after Islamic State Is Routed
(Washington Post) Karen DeYoung and Liz Sly - The Trump administration is expanding its goals in Syria beyond routing the Islamic State to include a political settlement of the country's civil war, a potentially open-ended commitment that could draw the U.S. into conflict with both Syria and Iran. U.S. officials say they are hoping to use the ongoing presence of American troops in northern Syria, in support of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to pressure Assad to make concessions at peace talks in Geneva. U.S. officials emphasized that an ongoing U.S. military presence in Syria is necessary to ensure that Islamic State remnants are mopped up and that repopulated communities are stabilized under local governance. "We're going to make sure we set the conditions for a diplomatic solution," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last week. "Not just, you know, fight the military part of it and then say good luck on the rest of it."