Friday, October 17, 2014
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Despite years of diplomacy and a CIA operation to vet and train moderate rebels, the U.S. finds itself without a credible partner on the ground in Syria as it bombs the Islamic State group. That’s a potentially serious flaw in its strategy to ultimately defeat the militants.
Obama administration officials have long conceded that airstrikes alone won’t drive the Islamic State group from its strongholds across Syria and Iraq, but it also has ruled out the use of American ground troops. The U.S. strategy to crush the group rests on the use of local proxy forces and hinges on plans to use $500 million and a base in Saudi Arabia to build an army of moderate Syrian rebels.
The ground force component has always been seen as a challenge in Syria, but the difficulty has become clearer in recent days. Officials acknowledge that the U.S. doesn’t trust any Syrian rebel groups enough to coordinate on the air campaign, despite attempts by some pro-Western fighters to pass along intelligence about the group’s positions.
The CIA has secretly trained and is paying more than 1,000 moderates to help achieve the administration’s stated objective of overthrowing Syrian president Bashar Assad, U.S. officials have said.
Those fighters have been gaining ground against Assad in southern Syria and in some places are fighting the Islamic State group, said Robert Ford, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria. The CIA-funded fighters have proven reliable and have made modest gains, said a congressional aide who has been briefed on the matter. The aide spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.
But some analysts have questioned the fighters’ loyalty and competence. Either way, it’s clear their impact has not been decisive.
“Most of these groups have worked closely with Jabat al Nusra at some point in the last year or so,” said Joshua Landis, the Arabic-speaking director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, referring to the head of Syria’s al-Qaida spinoff. “Some of them have worked hand in glove with ISIS. For Americans to call a sit-down and say, ‘Here’s where we’re bombing,’ doesn’t make any sense. We don’t trust these guys.”
American officials don’t go that far in public remarks, but they have been fairly blunt.
“We don’t have a willing, capable, effective partner on the ground inside Syria right now,” Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said last week. “It’s just a fact.”