President Donald Trump must announce the victory achieved in Syria and quickly return the US troops home. This was called for by a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, former assistant to President Ronald Reagan Doug Bandow in his article for The National Interest.
The author points out that the US had to solve too many tasks in Syria, some of them were initially unbearable. Among them, the struggle against the Islamic state group (IG, banned in Russia), restraining the ambitions of Turkey, supporting the democratic opposition, cooperating with the Kurds, fighting the Bashar Assad regime. In addition, it was necessary to disassemble the relations between the numerous armed formations fighting against each other, some of which can be considered terrorist.
And if the US somehow managed to win over the Kurds and defeat the detachments of the IG, then it was not possible to cope with other problems. Bashar Assad remained in power, the civil war in Syria continues, and neighboring countries have not abandoned their geopolitical interests.
Bandou notes that in recent years the US has not been able to solve large-scale tasks at all and to achieve all the goals set. As an example, the expert cites cases of interference by Americans in the affairs of Asia, the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.
At the same time, the analyst notes that Washington should not be afraid of Russia's presence in Syria. Cooperation between Moscow and Damascus was more active during the Cold War, but this did not threaten the interests of the United States.
Therefore, Doug Bandow concludes, the United States must say that they achieved victories over the IG in Syria, did not set any other goals for themselves and withdraw their military from the Middle East.
Earlier, the Pentagon issued a report stating that the Russian presence in Syria made Moscow one of the main players in the region for a long time.