The American withdrawal in northern Syria has been long in the making. Since early 2018[1], Trump had made it clear that Americans would withdraw their troops. Small in number, 2000 at the time, the Americans had made use of the Syrian Democratic Forces – made up mainly of Kurdish troops to do its bidding in Syria in exchange for support for a potential autonomous region in a future Syrian state either under Bashar or another dictator that would obey her instructions.
There are only two obstacles to a reunified Syria – the Kurds in northern Syria and the opposition who still hold some territory in Idlib. Now that America has made use of the Kurds, it has given a green light to Turkey to carry out its offensive so that it can dump Syrian refugees in the so-called “safe zone” then pull its military out for a political reconciliation with the Syrian regime.
Trump said himself, regarding the withdrawal of troops, “We’ve been doing this, actually, over a period of time — over a very long period of time.”[2] So how can our Kurdish brothers and sisters display any type of astonishment? They received no help in processing the thousands of prisoners they took, and they even had to look on as 22 Arab states and the UN [3] in December 2018 manoeuvred to bring Syria back into the Arab League, all this with no mention of an autonomous region for the Kurds.
America is a colonial state and its foreign policy does not have any humanitarian or moral aims, it only serves itself. It has tools at its disposal. It will use the Arab League as it wills and it will use the UN as it wills. For the past eight years, it has had one aim in mind and that is to recoup its influence in Syria using these tools as well as the “World Bank and other or other multilateral institutions [4]” that are ready to contribute towards the $400 billion dollars reconstruction costs once favourable conditions exist.
The Prophet Muhammed (saw) said “A believer is not bitten from the same hole twice”. The colonialists have bitten and wreaked havoc on our Kurdish brothers and sisters; indeed they have been bitten eight times since 1923 [5]. Is it right that we continue seeking solutions from states that follow in the footsteps of the colonialist states? When the colonialist forces run into trouble again in Syria or Iraq, should we expect a different outcome? Whether it’s Palestine, Somalia, Yemen or Kashmir – America, its allies and international organisations will make political and economic promises but these are only to further divide the Ummah so they can seek their aims. The Ummah must surely realise there is only one political solution and that is the solution given to us by our Creator, the establishment of the Khilafah on the method of the Prophet Muhammed (saw).
This will be a state that possesses the political awareness to not fall into the clutches of America via her foreign policy tools. The Khilafah state will treat all its citizens with the highest level of care regardless of race and not give any regard to the artificial nationalities created by the colonialists. The Khilafah state will treat its citizens equally, not out of choice, but rather out of obligation as Allah (swt) says,
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ
“The believers are but brothers.” [Al-Hujurat(49):10]
Our destiny lies in our hands; we must not allow ourselves to be led to believe that the colonialist states share the interests of Muslims or want good for us. Allah (swt) says
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا بِطَانَةً مِّن دُونِكُمْ لَا يَأْلُونَكُمْ خَبَالًا وَدُّوا مَا عَنِتُّمْ قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاءُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ ۚ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ ۖ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
“O you who believe! Do not take for intimate friends from among others than your own people; they do not fall short of inflicting loss upon you; they love what distresses you; vehement hatred has already appeared from out of their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater still; indeed, We have made the communications clear to you, if you will understand” [Ale-Imran(3):118].
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/us/politics/trump-syria-turkey-troop-withdrawal.html
[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-briefing-military-leaders/
[4] https://www.rand.org/blog/2019/04/the-syrian-civil-war-is-coming-to-an-end.html
[5] https://theintercept.com/2019/10/07/kurds-syria-turkey-trump-betrayal/
