US envoy says indebted to SDF, but Kurds must integrate

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States is indebted to its partners in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), but Kurds must integrate into the new Syrian government, Washington’s special envoy for Syria said on Friday.

“So there’s a big sentiment that because they were our partners, we owe them. The question is what do we owe them. We don’t owe them the ability to have their own independent government within a government. We owe them to usher an onramp to a new regime in which there’s going to be reasonableness in how they integrate with one Syrian government,” Thomas Barrack, US special envoy for Syria, said in a press briefing.

The Kurdish-led SDF is a partner force of the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS). They did the bulk of the fighting on the ground to territorially defeat ISIS in its Syrian stronghold, suffering more than 10,000 casualties in the conflict.

The SDF is the de facto army of Rojava - the Kurdish-controlled northeast region of Syria. During the civil war, Kurds established an autonomous administration. Since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, they have been in talks with the interim government in Damascus to integrate into national institutions, including the armed forces.

Kurds, however, are concerned about centralization of power and the prominence of Islamic law in the transitional constitution adopted by the interim government. Kurds have called for federalism and repeatedly denied that they seek to divide Syria.

In March, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed a deal with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to integrate Rojava’s civil and military institutions into those of the state. The two sides have continued discussions to implement the agreement.

According to Barrack, the March agreement “didn’t work” because “everybody rushed to an agreement with no specifications.” He said the US is ready to help mediate, “but we’re not going to stick around. If you guys don’t agree, don’t agree. But we’re not going to be here forever as the babysitter and the mediator.”

He said the US, “especially Congress, has a very soft spot in the heart for SDF,” and wants to ensure they are treated fairly in the negotiations, but “there’s not an indication that there’s going to be a free Kurdistan. There’s not an indication that there’s going to be a separate SDF state.”

Kurds have to decide, “Are they Syrians? Are they Turks? Are they Kurds first?” he said, adding that he believes all sides are acting responsibly and his “hope is they integrate and all of this starts dissipating.”

Diyar Kurda contributed to this article.