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US dragging feet in so-called war on Daesh: Analyst

Thursday, 02 June 2016 8:35 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 02 June 2016 8:35 AM ]

This file photo shows Daesh terrorists at an unknown location.

Press TV has interviewed Bill Jones, a member of the Executive Intelligence Review in Leesburg, about comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said the United States and its coalition partners are doing nothing on the ground in Syria or at the political level.

A rough transcription of the interview appears below.

Press TV: Sergei Lavrov says the US-led coalition has become idle while militants are using the Turkish border to cross in and out of Syria. Is this a coincidence? Your thoughts.

Jones: Not exactly. It plays hand in hand with the fact that the United States has been backing Turkey on all these issues. The absurdity of not bringing the Kurds into the discussion is even more so given the fact that the United States has been collaborating with the Kurds and understands that the Kurds have been the primary force against ISIL (Daesh) in the region but then they won’t give them a political voice.

During the last period of course the initiative has gone through Russia, the fact that it has not developed into a Color Revolution is by the very strategic move by President Putin to station forces there and that is to change the whole nature of the game where one can actually look seriously at the actual defeat of ISIS in the region and of course now the United States are dragging their feet because they have another political agenda, which goes beyond the defeat of ISIL.

Press TV: And Lavrov also wants many of those groups sponsored by Turkey and Saudi Arabia banned from the negotiations. Why aren’t Western governments willing to identify the extremist groups in this conflict as extremists?

Jones: Because there are certain ties to so-called friends of the United States. The Saudis of course is one as was previously indicated but also the Turks. The Turks have been helping ISIL by the provision of weapons. They feel that they are an ally of sorts in their fight against the Kurds who may deem as their main enemy in the region. They do not want to give the [Kurds] a state, they do not want to give [Kurds] autonomy, it looks like they do not even want to give the [Kurds] a political say in Turkey itself and that is really their goal and the United States has swallowed that, gone along with it which has led to a weakening of the forces that are moving against ISIL.

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