Former US Defence Secretary calls for more support for AANES

Former US Defence Secretary Christopher Miller has called on the US to extend its support to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in order to preserve the ‘unique project’. Miller made the request during a meeting with the AANES foreign affairs department, officials said. The heads of the department, Bedran Çiya Kurd and Samar al-Abdullah, and their deputy, Rubel Baho, attended the meeting with Miller.

According to the statement, the purpose of Miller’s trip to northeast Syria was to exchange views with the self-government on the current threats and challenges AANES is facing and the need to support it politically and financially. The issue of the region’s unresolved status was also likely to be discussed. If there is serious interest in a democratic perspective for Syria, it is necessary for AANES to gain official international status, the statement said.

Miller, for his part, stressed the need for sustained US security efforts for AANES and stabilization assistance for areas in the region liberated from the ISIS terrorist group, with an eye to expansion, in order to preserve the achievements of AANES. This support should include security infrastructure, given the volatile situation in prisons and camps where IS members are held. “We see that this is an issue that requires more effort,” Miller added.

Christopher Miller was Deputy Secretary of Defence in the Trump administration from November 2020 to January 2021. Prior to that, he was assistant to the president at the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), of which he later became director. It was the first time a former US Secretary of Defence had visited AANES.