US President Donald Trump has downplayed the American alliance with Kurdish fighters in Syria, saying that Kurds didn’t help the Allies camp during the Second World War.

“The Kurds are fighting for their land,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “And as somebody wrote in a very, very powerful article today: They didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy, as an example, they mention names of different battles… but they’re there to help us with their land,” he said at the White House on Wednesday.

“In addition to that, we have spent tremendous amounts of money on helping the Kurds in terms of ammunition, in terms of weapons, in terms of money, in terms of pay,” he explained. “With all of that being said, we like the Kurds.”

The US President was apparently referring to Kurt Schlichter, an outspoken conservative commentator who praised Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Syrian-Turkish border in an earnest Tuesday column on Townhall.

“The Kurds helped destroy ISIS, true. It’s also true that the Kurds would have fought ISIS anyway, since the psycho caliphate was right next door,” Schlichter wrote, referring to ISIL Takfiri group. “Let’s be honest — the Kurds didn’t show up for us at Normandy or Inchon or Khe Sanh or Kandahar.”

Source: Agencies