An America First Approach to Syria

Originally published in The National Interest

America has struggled since President Obama to get Syria policy right, largely because of being overwhelmed by a long list of critical issues—from the humanitarian toll of the civil war, pushing out Assad and facilitating a political transition to the actions of our global and regional adversaries there. It was a classic case of the adage “when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.”

During the first Trump administration, U.S. Syria policy got it as right as possible by focusing on near and urgent issues facing us and our partners: destroying the ISIS caliphate and diminishing Iran’s footprint there.

It didn’t “solve” Syria’s problems, but it put the United States in the best possible posture to protect our priorities.

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