Retired US Army Colonel Myles Caggins III has called on the United States to take an active role in peace negotiations and remove the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from its list of designated terrorist organisations. In a social media post, Caggins contrasted the US approach to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group that has previously targeted Americans, with its continued designation of the PKK, which he noted has never posed a direct threat to the US.
U.S. should take active role in peace talks and delist PKK (a group that never threatened Americans), as U.S. plans to delist HTS (a group that threatened Americans).
This will solve “America First” security & energy goals. And will make 47 the peace-through-strength President. https://t.co/l3KVyvtIA6
— Myles Caggins III (@MylesCaggins) February 27, 2025
Caggins, who served as the spokesperson for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria from 2019 to 2020, argued that delisting the PKK would be consistent with US security and energy interests, while supporting a “peace-through-strength” approach under a potential second Trump administration. His comments come amid reports that the US is considering removing the PKK from its terrorist list, prompting discussions on Washington’s counter-terrorism policies and their geopolitical implications.
This is not the first time Caggins has criticised US policy in the region. In an earlier interview, he described Turkey’s actions in northern Syria as ‘ethnic cleansing’, referring to efforts to remove Kurdish populations from border areas. These comments highlight his ongoing concerns about the treatment of Kurdish communities and the impact of US foreign policy decisions in the region.
The call to review the PKK’s designation has been echoed by various political and human rights advocates, who argue that the group’s status remains an obstacle to conflict resolution and diplomatic engagement in the region. However, the US government has so far maintained its classification of the PKK, citing its decades-long armed conflict with Turkey.
