Trump says Kurds are ‘no angels’, after US allies helped defeat Isis

Donald Trump has described Kurds as “no angels” as he attempted to defend his decision to allow Turkey’s offensive in Syria.

The comments from the president — who also said it was “fine” for Russia to assist Assad regime in the conflict — come despite Kurdish forces being longstanding allies of the US who played a key role in the defeat of Isis.

He also claimed imposing US sanctions on Turkey would be better than fighting in the region.

“All American soldiers are away from the site. Syria and Turkey can fight… They’ve got a lot of sand over there… There’s a lot of sand that they can play with,” Mr Trump said in the White House.

“They are no angels, by the way,” Mr Trump continued, referring to a group who have been bombarded since the US pulled troops from northern Syria, allowing the Turkish offensive.

“If Turkey goes into Syria it is between Turkey and Syria. It’s not our problem,” he said.

During his remarks, Mr Trump welcomed the addition of further international involvement, saying that he is fine with Russia helping Syrian leader Bashar al Assad in fighting against Isis and other adversaries.

Mr Trump has been widely criticised for his decision remove US troops from northern Syria, which has led to a military assault on Kurdish forces who lost more than 10,000 soldiers fighting alongside the US against Isis.

“The Kurds are much safer right now, but the Kurds know how to fight,” he said, suggesting that the Kurds were better at fighting when allied with the United States than when they were not. “They fought with us. We paid a lot of money to fight with them but that’s ok.”

The backlash against Mr Trump over the issue has pushed him to impose fresh sanctions on Turkey, and to halt trade negotiations with the country.

In addition, Mr Trump has called on Turkey to impose a cease fire in the area, and is sending vice president Mike Pence to the region to help negotiate that measure on Wednesday. Turkey, however, has indicated that it does not want to impose a cease fire.

Joining Mr Pence is secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday morning that Mr Trump wanted those two to begin negotiations to ensure the Turkish government understands the US is taking the issue seriously.

“The president felt it was important that we do this at the most senior levels of the United States Government to speak to him face to face,” Mr Pompeo said of the planned meeting with Turkish leader Recep Erdogan.  “He needs to stop – he needs to stop the incursion into Syria.  This is a complicated matter with lots of states at play, lots of non-state actors as well.”