Experts have criticized the Obama administration for not following a decisive strategy in Syria since the Arab Spring, reports Anadolu from Washington.
Addressing a panel organized by the Turkish Heritage Organization in Washington D.C. Wednesday, senior vice president of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Daniella Pletka, said the biggest problem with U.S. President Barack Obama’s policy in Syria was that he did not follow a particular strategy.
According to Pletka, Obama could have prevented the deaths of thousands of Syrians if he himself would have known exactly what he wanted in Syria.
Saying that the “president doesn’t think there is anything wrong with his policy,” Pletka said she was pessimistic that the U.S. approach to Syria would change until Obama left office next year.
“We are in a new era and Middle East is no longer important for us,” she said, adding Obama’s approach, especially in places like Syria was to “let them fight each other.”
She also said that an ideal situation for the next president would be to recognize that the U.S. faces a “genuine challenge” that needs to be addressed and that a strategy — focusing on defeating Daesh and Al Qaeda in the region — was needed.