{"id":54216,"date":"2019-10-16T00:14:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T00:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/10\/16\/fearing-us-abandonment-kurds-kept-back-channels-wide-open\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:25:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:25:05","slug":"fearing-us-abandonment-kurds-kept-back-channels-wide-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/16\/fearing-us-abandonment-kurds-kept-back-channels-wide-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Fearing American abandonment, Kurds kept back channels to Damascus, Moscow wide open"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 When Syria\u2019s Kurdish fighters, America\u2019s longtime battlefield allies against the Islamic State, announced over the weekend that they were switching sides and joining up with Damascus and Moscow<\/a>, it seemed like a moment of geopolitical whiplash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in fact, the move had been in the works for more than a year. Fearing U.S. abandonment, the Kurds opened a back channel to the Syrian government and the Russians in 2018, and those talks ramped up significantly in recent weeks, American, Kurdish and Russian officials told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe warned the Kurds that the Americans will ditch them<\/a>,\u201d Russia\u2019s ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, told Russia\u2019s Tass news agency on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\t