News   /   Interviews

Failure of US policy in Syria prompted talks with Russia: American foreign policy analyst

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter at the Defense Department

The failure of US policy in Syria has prompted Washington to hold talks with Russia over the crisis in the Arab country, an American foreign policy analyst says. 

James George Jatras, a former US diplomat and adviser to the Senate Republican leadership, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday while commenting on the reported renewal of military contacts between the US and Russia.

The Pentagon said on Friday that Washington and Moscow have resumed high-level military contacts to discuss mechanisms to avoid accidental encounters between their forces in Syria.

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu spoke by telephone on Friday, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

"The secretary and the minister talked about areas where the United States and Russia's perspectives overlap and areas of divergence," he said.

"They agreed to further discuss mechanisms for deconfliction in Syria and the counter-ISIL campaign," Cook stated, using a military term, deconfliction, which means rival armies will talk to one another in order to avoid accidental encounters between their forces.

The United States and Russia broke off direct military contacts in April 2014 over a dispute over the crisis in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (R) attend celebrations for Navy Day in Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region on July 26, 2015. (AFP photo)

Commenting to Press TV, James Jatras said, “First off, don’t consider this a done deal yet. There will be a great deal of resistance to this in Washington.”

“But clearly what’s motivating is that the US policy has really hit a dead end. There was an almost panic in the Senate this week, as the administration testified that after spending tens of millions of dollars to train forces in Syria, they have trained precisely four or five fighters,” Jatras added.

“They’ve been doctoring the intelligence to make it look like the anti-ISIS campaign was more effective than it is,” he stated, referring to the US-led coalition against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.

“With the Russians now moving in and strong support for Assad and it’s clear that [Syrian President Bashar] Assad is going to stay, they really don’t know what else to do at this point,” the analyst noted.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. More than 230,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the violence mainly fueled by the foreign-sponsored militants.

The United States and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - have been supporting the militants operating inside Syria since the beginning of the crisis.

The Obama administration has outlined a $500 million program to train and arm some 5,000 “moderate” militants in Syria to fight against Daesh (ISIL) and the Assad government.

US Central Command Commander Gen. Lloyd Austin III testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. (AP)

On Wednesday, however, the chief of the US military campaign in Iraq and Syria acknowledged that the Pentagon program to “train and equip” militants in Syria has yielded only "four or five" fighters.

The remarks by Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, head of US Central Command, before a Senate panel set off a wave of criticism from congressional lawmakers, who are wary of the Obama administration’s strategy towards the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.


Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Press TV News Roku