The best ally the U.S. has in the struggle against ISIS in the Middle East is the Kurdish people. The stateless ethnicity provides brave soldiers against the world’s most ruthless terrorist organization. National Geographic journalist Neil Shea has covered the conflict firsthand. He says the bitter enmity between America’s key ally and NATO member Turkey has made it difficult to provide the kind of military assistance to the Kurds that could lead to a decisive victory.
“The Kurds are really amazing people and they’ve been sort of left to deal with ISIS on their own for a while now. They’ve had some support from the West but most of the heavy lifting in this battle against extremism being handled by the Kurds. They are impressive people and I think they need more support from the West.”
Shea says the West sends some help to the Kurds and other anti-ISIS factions in the form of airstrikes and trainers.
“I think some of these groups tend to be ignored because they are inconvenient. Supporting a group like this that is a moderate Muslim democracy seems difficult when we have other neighbors like Turkey particularly and Iran. The Kurds kind of get lost beside those bigger and perhaps more important neighbors – more important militarily anyway.”
Shea says ISIS territory is shrinking in Iraq and the Kurds have been successful at recovering some of their territory. He says it’s very important that U.S. policy makers realize that ISIS cannot be stopped without a larger commitment of military resources from the West.
Shea was a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Morning with Doug McIntyre and Terrie Rae Elmer.
