The point by @AliAlleile seems to be that 1) there are PYD-Arab tribe problems cropping up bc 2) US strategy subordinated the Arabs to the Kurds & 3) thus the US made a mistake. I agree with 1) and 2) but not 3).
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This thread of Kurd-Arab problems in NE Syria is being widely discussed & promoted (in my TL by @ImaraWaTijara @joshua_landis & others) & while I don't dispute the facts asserted I think there is another policy angle to make.https://twitter.com/AliAlleile/status/1139863364572762112 …
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What is missing from any post-hoc criticism of the PYD-reliant US campaign in eastern Syria v. IS is appreciation that these problems were foreseeable & weighed against alternatives that were even worse, & a PDY-reliant option was chosen with full knowledge of this.
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The problem, to be blunt, is that the US found Sunni Arab groups in Syria to be EXTREMELY unreliable & ineffective, & there was no effective Sunni Arab force in east Syria nor any realistic possibility of creating one even with a multi-year committment bring on numerous risks.
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What I'm referring to is the option promoted by sectarian hawks of creating a sizeable, permanent base in east Syria to train a Sunni Army. I won't go over again what a horrible idea that was. I'll suffice with saying at the time of the decision, the long-term risks were known.
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This is me in Jan 2018 noting that the PYD carried its negatives as an ally, while recognizing that it was the only credible anti-terrorist force in Syria (since neither Turkey, nor the Assad regime, nor Sunni Arab groups had been).https://twitter.com/UticaRisk/status/953271968173830144 …
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& me in Feb 2016 noting that the "Syrian Democratic Forces" SDF was an illusion to cover PYD dominance. I'm quoting myself but I was not any any sense the only one who knew this; I think all western analysts knew this.https://twitter.com/UticaRisk/status/702251936410636290 …
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Bottom line: the fact that post-conventional victory problems are arising b/n Kurds & Arabs is not evidence that US policy on this point was just ignorant. It was a policy adopted eyes-wide-open with the knowledge that there were no good Sunni Arab alternatives.
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