The Administration

Goes All in on Kobani

Ony days ago the Pentagon was sayng that ths sma
Syran cty mght fa to the Isamc State. Now t's
pung out a the stops to save Koban.

BY KATE BRANNEN , GOPAL RATNAM-OCTOBER 21, 2014
The Obama admnstraton's rapdy ntensfyng ehorts to
prevent Koban from fang nto the hands of the Isamc State have backed
the Unted States nto a corner. Whe Pentagon omcas mantan that the
town sn't strategcay sgncant, the Unted States has nvested so much
n savng Koban that ts fa woud hand the Isamc State a pubcty wn
and dea a symboc bow to the U.S.-ed war ehort.
After weeks of sayng that Koban coud fa to the Isamc State (whch s
aso known as ISIS or ISIL), and that the Unted States coudn't wage a
batte for every town the group contros n Syra and Iraq, the Obama
admnstraton has been devotng more and more mtary and dpomatc
resources towards ts defense. Snce Oct. 1, the U.S. mtary has aunched
more than 135 arstrkes aganst Isamc State targets n and around the
town, more than n any other ocaton n Iraq or Syra. On Sunday, t began
drect ardrops of weapons and suppes to Kurdsh ghters nsde Koban.
Away from the batteed, meanwhe, Washngton has rsked stranng ts
reatonshp wth Turkey by pushng Ankara to come to the ad of the Kurdsh
ghters.
"I thnk the U.S. was caught between tryng to dscount the sgncance of
Koban and then reazng that t had no choce but to be drawn n, because
Koban has become a token for the campagn's abty to succeed wth
arpower aone," sad Shashank |osh, a senor feow at the Roya Unted
Servces Insttute n London. "I thnk aganst ther better |udgment the U.S.
found tsef compeed to provde greater and greater arpower, even when
that came at the expense of more consequenta areas ke Anbar provnce."
The Unted States s takng bod steps to ad the Syran Kurds ghtng to
save the town, some of whch have straned ts reatonshp wth Turkey, a
key ay and NATO member. It has hed taks wth Syra's Kurdsh Democratc
Unon Party, known as the PYD, whch Ankara consders an ohshoot of the
Kurdstan Workers' Party (PKK), whch has been ghtng to create a separate
Kurdsh state. The Unted States aso has begunncreased coordnaton wth
Syran Kurds on the ground n Koban about whch Isamc State targets to
bomb.
After weeks of Amercan frustraton wth Ankara for not adng Kurdsh
rebes n Koban, Turkey has dramatcay changed course n recent days to
aow U.S. resuppes to the rebe groups and to aow Iraq Kurdsh ghters,
or Peshmerga, to cross the Turksh border to ad ther feow Kurds n Koban.
Respondng to Turksh concerns, Secretary of State |ohn Kerry todreporters
n |akarta Monday, "Let me say very respectfuy to our aes, the Turks, that
we understand fuy the fundamentas of ther opposton and ours to any
knd of terrorst group and partcuary obvousy the chaenges they face
wth respect to the PKK."
On Sunday, Amercan C-130 mtary transport panes dropped 27 oads of
weapons, ammunton, and medca suppes for the Kurdsh rebes who are
ghtng the Isamc State on the ground. Thanks to these actons, Pentagon
omcas have new condence that Kurdsh ghters w be abe to hod ther
ground, though they won't rue out the possbty that the town coud st
fa.
Wth the ncreasng tempo of arstrkes and resuppyng rebes, "we have
certany stunted, we have certany sowed down ther momentum n and
around Koban, there's no queston about that," Pentagon spokesman Rear
Adm. |ohn Krby sad at a news conference on Tuesday. As a resut, the
Kurdsh forces now contro most of the town, he sad.
Whe the Isamc State's momentum n Koban s beng sowed, Amercan
omcas say they are prepared for the pubcty wn the group woud gan f
the coaton ost the town.
The U.S. goa s "not to deny them a propaganda vctory," a senor U.S.
defense omca sad. The am s to "deny them safe havens and sanctuary,"
whe addng that arstrkes aone coudn't accompsh that goa.
St, the propaganda potenta of Koban s amped by the crowds of
|ournasts who watch the batte from |ust over the border n Turkey.
"Utmatey, that has gven t the oxygen of coverage that meant that both
ISIS and Amerca suddeny reazed that ths was a rea test of the
coaton's resove," sad Mchae Stephens, deputy drector of the Roya
Unted Servces Insttute's omce n Doha. Koban s "strategcay mportant,
n the sense that t's about showng who s quatatvey on top," he sad.
The meda attenton pad to Koban has bamed U.S. defense omcas at
tmes, and they've ponted to towns n Iraq -- ke Ht -- that have recenty
faen nto the Isamc State's hands wth tte notce.
It turns out the boodest snge atrocty commtted by the Isamc State n
Syra took pace n eary August n a town caed Abu Hamam n eastern
Syra. There, 700 peope were ked over the course of three days, a
saughter that was gnored by the nternatona communty and the meda,
the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Accordng to senor U.S. omcas, ncudng Kerry, Washngton s nvestng so
heavy n the ght to save Koban because the Isamc State has made t a
top prorty.
Gen. Loyd Austn, who runs the mtary's Centra Command, sad
Frdaythat "the enemy has made a decson to make Koban hs man ehort,"
gvng the Unted States and ts coaton partners more targets to bomb.
"As ong as he pours egons of forces there nto that area, we' stay
focused on takng hm out," Austn sad.
St, Koban s not a "mtary sgncant town to ether sde," another U.S.
defense omca sad. The mtant group doesn't "need that crossng but for
whatever reason they've decded t's of mportance to them and are
resuppyng troops and movng equpment and as they contnue to present
targets, we ht them," the omca sad.
The destructon of the Isamc State's tanks and artery peces and the
deaths of hundreds of ts ghters coud mean that the group woud be
unabe to reconsttute ts ghtng force to take on other towns ether n
Syra or Iraq, the omca sad.
Ths ratonae makes sense, but t rases questons about whether the
Unted States s settng ts own prortes or ettng the Isamc State decde
where to ght, |osh sad. "It s a reasonabe ratonae, but t's a bt of a
post-hoc ratonae rather than a carefuy thought-out strategc concept....
These decsons have to be taken n a more apotca, neutra bass rather
than beng drven by meda attenton."
Despte the stepped-up ehort to save Koban, top mtary omcas ncudng
Austn and Gen. Martn Dempsey, the charman of the |ont Chefs of Stah,
have contnued to warn that the town may fa.
A U.S. mtary omca tod FP ast week that f the Kurdsh ghters on the
ground weren't resupped, the town was a but certan to fa. After
Sunday's ardrops, that kehood has dmnshed but Koban's fate s st far
from certan.
On Sunday, meanwhe, a senor U.S. admnstraton omca ohered a new
ratonae for stepped-up Amercan ehorts.
"We want to hep prevent the humantaran catastrophe that coud resut
from the compete fa of that cty nto ISIL's contro and the massacre of
cvans and Kurdsh ghters that coud foow that event," the omca tod
reporters Sunday.
It has been dmcut to ascertan the number of cvans st eft n the cty.
U.S. mtary omcas have sad most of the resdents have ed, wth
hundreds of thousands seekng refuge n Turkey, eavng ony a few hundred
behnd.
St, the hundreds who reman and the Kurdsh ghters defendng the town
a face beng massacred shoud the Isamc State be successfu, the omca
sad Sunday.
Whe the word contnues to watch to see what w happen n Koban, the
U.S. mtary says the bggest battes st to come are n Iraq.
"Mosu w key be the decsve batte n the ground campagn at some
pont n the future," Dempsey sad Oct. 12.
Preparng for that ght w take tme, Austn tod reporters Frday. The push
to retake the northern Iraq cty coud be a year away because the Iraq
securty forces aren't yet ready to mount what coud be a compex and
boody batte.
"We're gong to need to regenerate a bt more combat power and do some
more thngs to shape the envronment a bt before we go after Mosu,"
Austn sad. Referrng to Dempsey's comment that Mosu w be a decsve
batte, Austn sad, "It w be an mportant ght and a dmcut ght."
Posted by Thavam