Washington—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement on President Trump's decision to withdraw United States forces from northern Syria:

“President Trump’s decision is a gift to Russia, Iran, and ISIS, and a staggering betrayal of the Kurdish forces who have been America’s good and faithful partners. He has again ignored the advice of experts and jeopardized our national security in favor of appeasing Turkey’s strongman President Erdogan. Giving Turkey the green light to charge into Syria paves the way for a bloodbath that will make an already volatile situation worse. To do this after looking the other way on Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 from Russia is even more egregious.

"Abandoning our Syrian Kurdish partners also opens the door to a resurgence of ISIS. The Kurds have thousands of ISIS detainees under their watch. Now, the fate of those fighters is dangerously up in the air.

“And around the world, this decision sends the message to partners and adversaries alike that the United States won’t keep its word and can’t be trusted. At President Trump’s hands, American leadership has been laid low and American foreign policy has become nothing more than a tool to advance his own interests. It’s absolutely disgraceful.”