US Vice President Candidates Support Setting Up Safe Zones in Syria

Both Democratic and Republican vice presidential candidates said they support setting up safe zones for civilians in northern Syria.

The running mates tangled at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, 34 days before Americans go to the polls. Republican Mike Pence and Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said the United States should act to protect Syrian civilians from airstrikes.  "The United States of America needs to be prepared to work with our allies in the region to create a route for safe passage and then to protect people in those areas including with a no-fly zone," Republican Pence said at the vice presidential debate on Tuesday night. 

Kaine also advocated a humanitarian zone but criticized Trump for making positive comments on Russian President Vladimir Putin. In an apparent departure from Trump's stated policy on Syria, Pence said the US should be open to military action against Syrian targets of the regime if what he called Russian provocations, namely attacks on civilians in besieged rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo, continue.  "I just have to tell you that the provocations by Russia need to be met with American strength, and if Russia chooses to be involved and continue, I should say to be involved in this barbaric attack on civilians in Aleppo, the United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the Assad regime to prevent them from this humanitarian crisis that is taking place in Aleppo," Pence said. 

On immigration, Pence said that Donald Trump has "laid out a plan to end illegal immigration once and for all in this country," adding falsely that Clinton supports "open borders". Kaine shot back that Trump believes in the "deportation nation" of 16 million undocumented residents, rather than in seeking a bipartisan immigration reform and a path to citizenship for tax-paying workers with clean criminal records. 

While Pence gave the Obama administration credit for eliminating Osama bin Laden, he said "America is less safe today" than it was before the Democrat became president. Kaine again took the opportunity to bring up Trump's taxes, saying that by not paying taxes for years, he had not supported the "fight against terror" after 9/11. 

Source : QNA