role in the Syrian war is something Wash-
ington has to grapple with. “The U.S. can
only really win in Syria and Iraq if it can
move beyond defeating ISIS to creating
some lasting form of security and stabil-
ity,” said Anthony Cordesman, the Arleigh
A. Burke chair in strategy at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies. “At
present, the U.S. lacks any clear plan to
achieve this in either country.”
In Syria, there’s no easy answer. Keep-
ing the approximately 900 U.S. troops on
the ground risks a confrontation with the
Assad regime and its backers. Withdraw-
ing too quickly would expose the SDF to
attacks by the same. Quitting Syria com-
pletely risks creating a vacuum for ISIS or
a successor to regain strength. U.S. mili-
tary officials say they have not received
instructions from the Trump Adminis-
tration stating whether U.S. forces will
remain in northeast Syria for the long
haul. However, a senior Administration
official told TIME, “We don’t intend to
repeat the previous Administration’s mis-
take of abandoning the fight against the
terrorists without consolidating the gains
we and our partners have made.”
On the streets of Raqqa, there are
reminders everywhere of an urban society
that was held captive by ISIS and later
collapsed during the battle. The doors
of some stores are ripped open. Here, a
children’s toy store with miniature plastictrucks on the shelves, now caked in dust.
There, a barbershop, now piled high with
metal and debris. Inside one building
was a huge stockpile of weapons that
had been set on fire. Room upon room
revealed stacks of blackened mortars and
rockets. One entire room was occupied by
a pile of AK-47s that had melted together,
hundreds of guns fused by the flames into
a gnarled metal statue. On the wall the
blaze had left an indelible mark the shape
of a flame, an echo of violence inscribed
among the ashes. —With reporting by
ELIZABETH DIAS/WASHINGTON □A Syrian Democratic Forces fighter in
Raqqa takes a selfie atop a burned-out bus