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SDF avoids fight with Trump over budget cut

The Trump administration's proposed 2021 budget would diminish the SDF's ability to effectively fight IS, but the coalition is unlikely to protest the steep cuts out of fear of angering Trump.
TOPSHOT - A US armoured vehicle drives past a billboard for the Syrian Kurdish Women's Protection Units (YPJ), during a patrol of the Syrian northeastern town of Qahtaniyah at the border with Turkey, on October 31, 2019. - US forces accompanied by Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) patrolled part of Syria's border with Turkey, in the first such move since Washington withdrew troops from the area earlier this month, an AFP correspondent reported. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by
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The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are unlikely to protest a steep Pentagon budget cut for fear over angering US President Donald Trump, according to sources familiar with the matter.

This month’s Trump administration request would cut military assistance by $100 million from last year’s Pentagon budget request, a move that experts say could degrade the Kurdish-led unit’s ability to fight the Islamic State (IS) and hold thousands of detainees.

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