https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/departing-us-envoy-brett-mcgurk-s-legacy-in-iraq-and-syria-1.805800

He leaves behind a divisive legacy in the two countries that have been hardest hit by the rise of ISIS since 2014 and the ensuing campaign to wipe-out the militant group.

His biggest fans are ostensibly Syria’s Kurdish groups, including the People’s Protection Units (YPG­), whom he helped refashion into the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a YPG-led coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters established in 2015 to help the US battle ISIS on the ground in Syria.

His support for Syria’s Kurds drew widespread criticism from Turkey, which considers the YPG an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish militia that has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and has claimed responsibility for several terror attacks on Turkish soil in recent years.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last year that he wanted Mr McGurk removed. "McGurk is clearly giving support to the PKK and YPG. It would be beneficial if this person were to be replaced," he said.

In 2011, Mr McGurk convinced then-President Barack Obama to allow Mr Maliki to issue arrest warrants against high-ranking Sunni officials, including then Vice-President Tariq Al Hashimi on terrorism charges. He argued that the matter was a domestic issue, one that should not warrant a US response, the former Iraqi envoy said.

In another policy blunder, “McGurk interfered intensely in internal Iraqi politics (as did Iran) to derail a constitutional process for parliament to withdraw confidence in Mr Maliki,” he said.

Washington’s support for Mr Maliki before he was pressured to leave office created conditions conducive to the rise of the militant group, Mr Al Istrabadi said.