ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United States will not send a delegation to the Syrian Conflict peace talks to be held in Astana on Monday, instead opting to accept host Kazakhstan’s invitation for the US ambassador to Kazakhstan to participate as an observer.
"We welcome and appreciate Kazakhstan's invitation to participate as an observer," acting US Department of State Spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement on Saturday, "Given our presidential inauguration and the immediate demands of the transition, a delegation from Washington will not be attending the Astana conference."
Turkey, Russia and Iran are set to broker ceasefire talks between the Syrian government and local players in Astana on Monday. The negotiations will seek to bring an end to country’s nearly six-year-long civil war.
Russia and Turkey had indicated they wanted the US present at the talks, while Iran was against it.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday he hoped Trump would send a Middle East expert to the talks.
George A. Krol has served as the US ambassador to Kazakhstan since January 2015 and he has worked for the Foreign Service since 1982.
The talks will be newly-elected US President Donald Trump’s first foray into international politics.
Trump offered further thoughts on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while not indicating whether he was referring to ISIS or Syrian-government rebels.
“Assad is bad, maybe these people could be worse.” Trump said in October 2016.
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via Defense News
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