Avoiding another Afghanistan

Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of Russia's impending pullout from Syria came as a surprise, and also aroused a considerable amount of suspicion and mistrust. After all, the Russian presence in Syria comprises a few dozen planes and several ships, and according to clarifications by Moscow, some of those will remain in place, along with the military advisers managing Syrian President Bashar Assad's war against the rebels.

Generally speaking, many of Moscow's statements about its military involvement in Syria have been untrue. For instance, the Russians presented their arrival in Syria as part of the war on the Islamic State group. In actuality, however, they rarely attacked the organization, focusing primarily on the rebels in western Syria and the population that supports them.

Regardless, and despite the prudent skepticism, Putin's announcement is important. At its core, this decision is a continuation of a series of previous steps by the Russians, including a successfully coordinated effort with Washington to foster a cease-fire in Syria. Most significantly, it comes after the Russians floated the prospect of turning Syria into a federation state where Assad would remain in power over parts of the country, but other areas would fall under the control of the moderate rebels who maintain contact with the United States.

In his announcement, Putin hailed the achievements of his military intervention in Syria, namely restabilizing Assad's regime and ensuring its continued survival, for the time being, in Damascus. The fact that these achievements came at the cost of immense destruction and devastation to those same populations controlled by the opposition at the hand of the Russians, Iranians and Hezbollah, certainly isn't causing the Russian president to lose any sleep.

The bottom line is that the Russians failed to vanquish the Syrian uprising. Despite sustaining considerable damage, the Syrian rebels are far from defeat or surrender. Putin apparently came to this realization and chose to pull out before Syria becomes Russia's second Afghanistan. Thus Putin, the Russian czar, is learning that not every problem can be solved with force, and that even a powerful ruler like himself has his limitations.

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