US role in Syria “must not end” with liberation of Raqqa: Kurdish official

The role of the US in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) should not end with the liberation of Raqqa but should instead adapt to the needs of the beleaguered city and its people.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - The role of the US in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) should not end with the liberation of Raqqa but should instead adapt to the needs of the beleaguered city and its people, a senior Syrian Kurdish official said on Tuesday.

Ilham Ahmed, the co-president of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) currently fighting to retake Raqqa from IS militants, stressed the need for long-term US political and financial support for the Kurdish-led effort in an interview with the Associated Press.

According to Ahmed, securing Raqqa, the jihadist group’s de facto capital, would not mean the end of IS’ grip on the city and would require the US to maintain a presence as a “guarantor of stability” until a political solution for the war-torn country can be worked out.

“If the Americans want to protect the security of these areas and protect their (own) country from terrorism, they must continue until a democratic system is built in Syria,” Ahmed stated, speaking from the self-administered town of Kobani in northern Syria.

She also highlighted that the crisis in Syria does not rest on the presence of IS but also the absence of a democratic system that protects against “radical groups taking over again.”

Ahmed said her group’s efforts need political and financial support for the reconstruction of Raqqa but also for the legitimacy of the Kurds' effort in creating the new political structure.

Syrian Kurds have demanded not statehood but a federal system of governance in a decentralized state in the civil-war-ridden country, which Turkey, a NATO ally, opposes.

Turkey regards the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main ruling party in Syrian Kurdistan, and its US-allied armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), as "terrorists" and equates them to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Despite Turkish protests and fears of expanding Kurdish insurgency along its borders, the US in May agreed to send new weapons and vehicles to the YPG in its fight against IS.

US officials, however, have previously said once Raqqa is liberated, the SDF would hand over local governance to the Raqqa Civilian Council, a local group of primarily Arab locals who will govern and administer essential services.

The United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura earlier this month said Syrian Kurds should be allowed to contribute to a new constitution in the country.

“There are no more institutions. Raqqa is destroyed. This council has to be supported to reconstruct and to secure the daily needs of its residents so they can remain in their homes without having to migrate,” Ahmed said.