Turkey launched airstrikes on the northwestern Syrian city of Afrin on Saturday, attacking the US-backed Kurdish militia after a week of warnings. Turkey called the move a key step towards ensuring the country's national security and part of a broader strategy against the separatists, known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. 

Douglas Smith, managing director of Kent Strategies in Washington DC, pointed out that the “Turks have been fighting against the Kurds for over 20 years and that sets the stage for a lot of complicated issues.”

Regarding the latest Turkish attacks on Syria’s Kurds, Meir Javedanfar, a Middle East analyst, believed it reflected a complicated situation. “The conflict between Turkey and the United States [is] because President Erdogan does not want the United States to have a base on its border supporting the Kurds; this is also the Russia and US proxy with the Russians being on the side of the Turks (while the US is on the side of Syria’s Kurds).”

“Last but not least, as far as domestic politics is concerned, it also boosts the position of President Erdogan vis-a-vis his rivals in Turkey,” he added. 

Javedanfar also thought that the Kurds were an instrumental part of the war in fighting the ISIL in Iraq and Syria, so it is not easy for the United States to disband them immediately. 

“If America goes and disarms them immediately afterward, that will send a message to anybody who cooperates with America, especially those fighting terrorism that today America could be your friend and tomorrow America will stab you in the back,” he explained. 

Kurdish forces are allies of the US but remain enemies of Turkey. So how will the current situation affect these two NATO countries in a US-Turkey relationship?

“President Erdogan is not like other Turkish leaders. For him, the NATO consideration does not seem to be as important as his domestic situation. And this is creating a clash between Trump and Erdogan,” Javedanfar said.

“The United State is trying to ensure that it doesn’t leave before the job is done. I don’t think we want to see another repeat of Iraq where Islamic State (ISIL) grew back up and took tremendous territory,” said Smith. “What the US is trying to do is to tap down a little bit of the escalation and try to find stability.”