The Kurds Should Not Trust America's Promises of Support Given Repeated Historical Betrayals
Source: Joseph Addington. "Why Would the Kurds Do America’s Dirty Work? - The American Conservative." March 16, 2026. www.theamericanconservative.com
The Gist
The author argues that Kurdish leaders should reject America's current requests to fight Iran because the U.S. has repeatedly promised support to the Kurds throughout history, only to abandon them when it became politically convenient. This pattern of betrayal means the Kurds would be foolish to trust American promises again.
Conclusion
Kurdish leaders should be deeply skeptical of current American requests for military cooperation against Iran because the U.S. has consistently abandoned the Kurds when geopolitical priorities changed
Premises
- After WWI, Western powers abandoned Kurdish statehood promised in the Treaty of Sèvres when it conflicted with other geopolitical interests
- The U.S. withdrew support from Kurdish rebels in 1975 following the Algiers Agreement between Iran and Iraq
- America failed to support Kurdish uprisings after Gulf War 1.0 despite encouraging them to rebel against Saddam Hussein
- The U.S. opposed Kurdish independence in 2005 and 2017, prioritizing Iraqi unity and regional stability over Kurdish self-determination
- Trump abandoned Kurdish forces in Syria in 2019, allowing Turkish military operations against them despite their partnership against ISIS
- This pattern shows America consistently subordinates Kurdish aspirations to broader geopolitical calculations with regional powers
Assumptions
- Historical patterns of behavior reliably predict future actions
- Kurdish leaders have institutional memory and learn from past experiences
- American geopolitical priorities will continue to override commitments to smaller allies
- The current situation with Iran parallels previous instances where the U.S. used and abandoned the Kurds