WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday distanced the United States from the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds in Syria, saying that the conflict “has nothing to do with us.”
Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters alongside the Italian president, said the American soldiers he had ordered to pull back, and who had been fighting with Kurdish forces in northern Syria near the Turkish border, were not in harm’s way. He added that “they shouldn’t be as two countries fight over land.”
“That has nothing to do with us,” Mr. Trump said.
“And the Kurds are much safer right now,” Mr. Trump added. Mr. Trump again defended his decision to withdraw American troops from the area. He said, “The Kurds know how to fight, and, as I said, they’re not angels.”
Even members of Mr. Trump’s own party have criticized the president’s actions to abandon the Kurds, who now are fighting Turkish forces in a chaotic battlefield that also has put at risk American troops pulling back from the Syrian border with Turkey.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.