Aftandilian Publishes Op-Ed on Syrian Crisis
Gregory Aftandilian, Lecturer at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent Op-Ed on the inability of United States policymakers to intervene in the growing conflict in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and elsewhere in the country.
Aftandilian’s October 16, 2016 Op-Ed, entitled “US Officials Unable to Deal with Syrian Conflict,” was published in The Arab Weekly.
From the text of the article:
The growing humanitarian crisis in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and elsewhere in the country, fuelled in large part by Syrian and Russian air strikes, has led to consternation and condemnation in the United States but neither US policymakers, nor the major-party candidates are offering much in the way of practical ideas to solve it.
Even US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has spent many hours meeting with his Russian counterpart to try to end the violence and start a political process, has expressed deep frustration and anger over the course of events. All of these efforts, including a negotiated ceasefire, have come to naught. Kerry on October 7th said that the Syrian regime and the Russian government should be investigated for war crimes.
In a candid moment with a group of Syrian exiles a few days earlier, Kerry revealed that he had been long in favour of US military action in Syria but had lost that argument with the White House several years ago.
Other members of the administration of US President Barack Obama have expressed frustration over the Syrian crisis. According to the Washington Post, when Kerry’s recent cease-fire deal with Russia fell apart, Obama ordered his subordinates to come up with new policy ideas.
You can read the entire Op-Ed here.
Aftandilian spent over 21 years in government service, most recently on Capitol Hill where he was foreign policy adviser to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (2007-2008), professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and foreign policy adviser to Senator Paul Sarbanes (2000-2004), and foreign policy fellow to the late Senator Edward Kennedy (1999). Learn more about him here.