Ashton Carter: U.S. to end Syrian rebel training program, instead will work with Kurds

The U.S. will change the failed Syrian rebel training program to focus efforts on working with capable Kurdish and other forces in Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday.

No details were immediately available, but the $500 million program to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State group is widely considered a failure. It has produced fewer than 100 soldiers, many of whom had fled, been captured or killed in early fighting.

Carter said at a news conference in London that the work the U.S. has done with the Kurds is a good example of an effective approach with a capable, motivated ground combat force. He did not provide more details.

U.S. officials said the new effort would focus more on embedding recruits with established Kurdish and Arab units, rather than sending them directly into front-line combat. Last week, a commander of one of the U.S.-trained rebel units turned over a half-dozen U.S. vehicles to extremist militants.

“The work we’ve done with the Kurds in northern Syria is an example of an effective approach,” Carter said. “That’s exactly the kind of example that we would like to pursue with other groups in other parts of Syriagoing forward.”

He called it a “more strategic approach” than what the U.S. has been doing from the beginning.

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