NBC’s chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel says that the Obama administration’s dismissal of the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani is “tone-deaf” and ignores the symbolic importance of the battle.
A frequent critic of the President Obama’s half-hearted campaign against the Islamic State, Engel again took the administration to task for suggesting they’re fine with the Kurdish town falling to bloodthirsty jihadists.
Referring to Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempt to downplay its strategic significance, Engel explained that Kobani “has become an important symbol — it is highly visible.”
“Perhaps Secretary Kerry is being a little bit tone-deaf to the importance that Kobani has taken on here in [Turkey], on social media,” Engel said.
Lack of interest in Kobani doesn’t bode well for the U.S. role in the rest of the conflict, either, Engel said. “There are cities in Syria that are being attacked by ISIS, but nobody can see them,” he said, noting the town has been visible because it’s just yards from the Turkish border. “People are watching the city fall almost in real time,” he said.
Despite the White House’s public disregard for the battle, Engel noted that coalition air strikes outside Kobani have escalated dramatically in the last 36 hours.
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