By Emily Burchfield, RealClearDefense: “DoD-led stability operations are not going away any time soon, especially in northeast Syria...”
As Turkey waits to see which Iraqi political coalition comes up with the parliamentary majority necessary to install a new government, Ankara is rooting for the bloc of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which it sees as most likely to minimize US and Iranian influence in the country.
The summit in Tehran exposed important underlying dynamics within the Astana trio and made it clear the three actors see the US presence as a problem, albeit each for their own reason.