Top Kurdish commander Abdi meets Syria's Sharaa, U.S. envoy

DAMASCUS,— A top Kurdish commander met with Syria’s interim president in Damascus on Wednesday, joined by the U.S. envoy to Syria, as officials sought to revive a stalled agreement on integrating the Kurdish-led autonomous administration of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) into the central government, according to sources close to the talks cited by AFP.

General Mazloum Abdi, head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — the Kurdish administration’s de facto military arm — held talks with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa as part of ongoing efforts to implement a U.S.-brokered deal reached in March.

The agreement has since faced delays over key political disagreements.

Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Washington’s special envoy for Syria, also attended the meeting, a Kurdish official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.

“The discussions focused on the relationship between the Autonomous Administration and the government in Damascus, along with military cooperation and economic arrangements,” the official said.

The SDF, backed by the United States during the campaign against the Islamic State group, controls large areas of northern Syria, including resource-rich regions in Hasaka, Deir ez-Zor, and Qamishlo.

The Kurdish-led administration has insisted on a decentralized political framework that would give local authorities broad control over governance.

However, Syrian authorities — now led by Islamist factions following the fall of Bashar al-Assad — have rejected that model, favoring a centralized system.

Sharaa, who is also known by the name Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who assumed office after Assad’s ouster following 13 years of civil conflict, has publicly called for the dissolution of all non-state armed forces and for integrating all military structures under government authority.

In a May interview, Gen. Abdi said the Kurdish administration seeks “a secular and decentralized government in Syria where all communities can exercise their full rights.” He accused the new leadership in Damascus of resisting those principles.

Also that month, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani warned that delaying integration talks could invite external interference and encourage separatist agendas.

Established in 2018, the Autonomous Administration operates on principles of democratic confederalism, emphasizing grassroots democracy, secularism, gender equality, and environmental sustainability. It has been widely recognized for expanding women’s participation in political and administrative roles.

(With files from AFP | Agencies)