Turkey, US agree plan to train 2,000 moderate Syrian rebels: report
The fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) will be trained at the Kirsehir base some 150 kilometres south of the capital Ankara by both Turkish and US personnel starting from late December, Hurriet Daily News reported, quoting unnamed officials.
The United States will provide weapons for the fighters and is also expected to pay for the training, the English-language daily said.
The agreement was reached after a third round of talks between Turkish and US military officials in Ankara, the daily said.
The officials did not, however, reach an agreement on the training of Syrian Kurd fighters from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), who are leading the battle against Islamic State militants for the key border town of Kobane, the paper said.
The United States is due to train these fighters in Iraq's Kurdish region, it said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted that the PYD fighters are part of a "terror group" allied to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who have fought Turkish security forces in a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish self-rule.
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Similarly Afghan-Mujahideen were created against the Soviet troops!
They received financial and material assistance from the US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
The CIA invested, in collaboration with the Maktab al-Khidamat , under the covert operation
"Operation Cyclone" several billion US dollars in the Islamist insurgents and printed millions of
propaganda textbooks to support the Jihad in Afghanistan and Pakistan against the Soviets.
After the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989 a civil war began between the various Mujahideen
factions.
And till today we all In Afghanistan and Pakistan are suffering from the violent militancy created
from the wrong policies of USA.
I would have cheered happily crying myself hoarse if half the number were selected for training in medicine or first aid or building some kind of peace in that region .
Very bad move ! There is no such thing as moderates in this battle, it would be better if group of Nations came together to tackle this, but I suppose most of them have lost appetite for any more conflicts in near future .