Afsar Sinik

Warsaw,15.03.2015

Syria conflict: We have to talk to Assad, says Kerry

The international community will "have to negotiate in the end" with Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.
Speaking on the fourth anniversary of the civil war, Mr Kerry said the conflict was "one of the
worst tragedies any of us have seen".He said the US was pushing President Assad to begin
negotiations again after two previous rounds of talks collapsed.More than 215,000 people are
estimated to have been killed in the conflict.
The US was working hard to "re-ignite" efforts to find a political solution to end the war, Mr
Kerry said in an interview in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
'No military solution'
US Secretary of State John Kerry: "There is no military solution. There is only a political
solution"
He told CBS News the US was working with the moderate opposition in Syria as well as
pursuing a diplomatic track with "a number of different critical players in this tragedy".
"Everybody agrees there is no military solution; there's only a political solution," he said.
The US has "always been willing to negotiate in the context of the Geneva I process," he
added, referring to a 2012 plan to end the conflict that included forming a transitional
governing body and holding free and fair elections in Syria.
The White House has in the past insisted that Mr Assad stand down as part of a political
settlement.
Analysis
Mr Kerry's comments are the clearest indication yet that Washington is coming to terms with
the reality that its Syria policy is going nowhere.
Frequent declarations that President Assad is "part of the problem and needs to go" are all
very well, but there is simply no sign of him being toppled.
Indeed the rise of a new actor in Syria - the Islamic State organisation - leads many experts to
believe that if Mr Assad were to be swept away, then the main beneficiary would be the

Afsar Sinik

Warsaw,15.03.2015

jihadists of IS. Syria might descend into even greater chaos and bloodshed, if that is
imaginable.
Mr Kerry's reference to the Geneva I process of 2012 is instructive. This was seen by many as
ruling out any future role for Mr Assad but equally - at the urging of his Russian allies - it did
not explicitly call for him to leave Syrian politics. That was to be decided by the Syrian
people.
Mr Kerry has been a leading player in international efforts to kick-start peace talks, bringing
representatives from the Assad regime and the Syrian opposition together in Geneva for the
first time early last year - but the negotiations collapsed after two rounds.
"To get the Assad regime to negotiate, we're going to have to make it clear to him that there is
a determination by everybody to seek that political outcome and change his calculation about
negotiating," Mr Kerry said.
"That's under way right now. And I am convinced that, with the efforts of our allies and
others, there will be increased pressure on Assad."
The civil war in Syria, which is now entering its fifth year, began after President Assad's
forces launched a deadly crackdown on a peaceful uprising against four decades of his
family's rule.The country has since been carved up by government forces, the Islamic State
(IS) jihadist group, Kurdish fighters and the remaining rebel groups.
A US-led coalition has been conducting air strikes against IS fighters in Syria since last
summer. It has also sent troops to neighbouring countries to train Syrian rebels.On Friday,
CIA Director John Brennan said the US had "legitimate concerns" about who might replace
President Assad given the rise of IS.
"None of us, Russia, the United States, coalition, and regional states, wants to see a collapse
of the government and political institutions in Damascus," Mr Brennan said.He warned that IS
and other "extremist elements" were "ascendant right now" in some parts of Syria, adding:
"The last thing we want to do is allow them to march into Damascus."

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31897389