What Will Happen to the Kurds If the US Withdraws from Syria and Iraq?

Abstract

The future of the Kurds in Iraq and Syria after a US withdrawal has already begun to take shape. The containment of Kurdish political and military cross-border mobility has been achieved to some extent by paving the way for Turkey’s military operations; it is now contingent on the recomposition of a desired ‘favorable balance of power” to fill the power vacuum in the Middle East. With an aggressive Turkish stance in the region, however, neither this containment policy nor the efforts made toward the maintenance of the “favorable balance of power” can be successful.