It was as unanticipated as it was detailed. On Wednesday in Stanford, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spelled out, in rare and lengthy granular form, exactly what America’s endgame in Syria looks like.
Over six years into a war that – after outside powers ensured the near defeat of ISIS, and of the Syrian rebellion itself – is slowly and bloodily coming to an end, the Trump administration is finding itself doing precisely what its predecessor resisted, and settling in for the longer term.
Tillerson was very specific about what needs to happen for the US to stop “remaining engaged” in Syria – a set of conditions which, if shared as an opinion by the White House and Pentagon, potentially amount to a long presence indeed.