US Senators Want Quick Visa for Syrian Kurdish General
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Republican and Democratic US senators asked the State Department Wednesday to quickly provide a visa so that the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces could visit the United States to discuss the situation in the Arab country.
Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Marsha Blackburn and Democrats Chris Van Hollen, Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal wrote to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking him to expedite a visa for the commander, General Mazloum Kobani.
"To say we are extremely concerned with the situation unfolding in northern Syria is an understatement," they said in their letter, adding that it would benefit both Congress and President Donald Trump's administration to hear from Kobani, Reuters reported.
Their request came hours after Trump announced that a ceasefire in northern Syria was now permanent and he lifted sanctions on Turkey as a result, rejecting criticism of his decision to pull out US troops that allowed Kurdish allies to come under attack from Turkey.
The lawmakers who sent the letter have been among the loudest voices in the US Congress lamenting Trump's decision, which many see as abandoning Kurdish forces who fought for years alongside US troops in Syria.