The Trump administration's hasty withdrawal abandons the Kurdish allies who sacrificed thousands fightingin the fight against ISIS alongside American forces. This retreat mid-transition creates dangerous security vacuums that extremist groups will exploit, particularlyespecially withas ISISthe IS is already claiming new attacks. America's credibility suffers when it abandonsbetrays partnersloyal midallies like the Kurds, who are now on their own again, including the fight against Turkish-transitionbacked opposition factions.

While the U.S. presents its pullout as a smart move, arguing that it alone cannot be made responsible for Syria's security, it is the U.S., through its anti-Assad proxy war, that created the miserable security situation in the first place. Washington is not only courting the jihadists it deployed against Assad in the name of democracy, but the U.S. military illegally occupies Syria's oil and agriculturally rich land. Now the U.S. is leaving the theater of yet another covert war.