Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeohave arrived in Turkey to mount an improbable push for a cease-fire in Syria.
Their visit to Ankara on Thursday to meet with Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan comes a day after President Donald Trump suggested theU.S. has no stake in defending Kurdish fighters once allied against the IslamicState group.
The high-level U.S. delegation is to warn Erdogan thatWashington will escalate economic sanctions if his assault on Kurdish fighterscontinues. But the Turkish leader has said he would only agree to a cease-fireif Kurdish forces abandon key positions in Syria.
U.S. officials acknowledge the odds are slim for an immediatehalt to the weeklong conflict. The visit comes as Trump faces bipartisancondemnation in Washington for withdrawing American troops from northern Syria,which paved the way for the Turkish incursion.
A senior U.S. delegation on its way to Turkey is facing aherculean task — to pressure Turkish officials to accept a cease-fire inNorthern Syria just hours after President Donald Trump declared the U.S. has nostake in defending its Kurdish allies.
Vice President Mike Pence is heading a U.S. delegation thatincludes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House national securityadviser Robert O'Brien. They are set to arrive in Turkey Thursday afternoon, aday after Trump dismissed the very crisis he sent his aides on an emergencymission to douse.
Trump suggested Wednesday that a Kurdish group was a greaterterror threat than Islamic State militants. He also welcomed the efforts ofRussia and the Assad government to fill the void left by the U.S. withdrawal.
