The Financial Times describes the farcical process the US is undertaking to find Syrian rebels that it likes --
Many Syrian opposition activists say they have been engaged in talks with the US for months over this. “In March they asked us to give them lists so they could study the training and the number of fighters,” said an activist from Deir Ezzor, a province in eastern Syria controlled by Isis. “We sent by email a list consisting of 200 fighters as a start. Up until now we haven’t got a response.” After months of waiting, US officials finally contacted the Deir Ezzor activists last week and asked them to send a new list. But activists said they would struggle to provide the names of willing volunteers, because most on the earlier list were now partnering with Salafi Islamist groups unpalatable to the US. Such groups include Ahrar al-Sham or the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam.
Note in particular that the screening process excludes the most effective anti-Assad fighters!
Many Syrian opposition activists say they have been engaged in talks with the US for months over this. “In March they asked us to give them lists so they could study the training and the number of fighters,” said an activist from Deir Ezzor, a province in eastern Syria controlled by Isis. “We sent by email a list consisting of 200 fighters as a start. Up until now we haven’t got a response.” After months of waiting, US officials finally contacted the Deir Ezzor activists last week and asked them to send a new list. But activists said they would struggle to provide the names of willing volunteers, because most on the earlier list were now partnering with Salafi Islamist groups unpalatable to the US. Such groups include Ahrar al-Sham or the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam.
Note in particular that the screening process excludes the most effective anti-Assad fighters!
1 comment:
To much the same effect is a front-page NYT article July 31, "Abductions Hurt U.S. Bid to Train Anti-ISIS Rebels," which indicates among other things that neither the Pentagon training program for anti-ISIS fighters nor the older CIA program to train anti-Assad fighters is going well.
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