US delegation arrives for meeting with Turkey's Erdogan

A senior US delegation arrived Thursday for meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on an improbable mission to push for a cease-fire in Northern Syria.

Armored SUVs carrying Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien entered the vast Turkish presidency complex in Ankara to meet with Erdogan.

The White House said Pence was greeted by his Turkish counterpart before entering a one-on-one meeting with Erdogan.

A second meeting with the full delegations was to take place later Thursday.

The US officials are expected to warn Erdogan that he will face additional economic sanctions if he doesn't halt his assault on Kurdish forces once allied with the US in the fight against the Islamic State group.

President Donald Trump earlier had dismissed the very crisis he sent his aides on an emergency mission to douse.

The US delegation's visit came hours after Trump declared the US has no stake in defending Kurdish fighters who died by the thousands as America's partners against Islamic State extremists.

Trump suggested Wednesday that a Kurdish group was a greater terror threat than the Islamic State group, and he welcomed the efforts of Russia and the Assad government to fill the void left after he ordered the removal of nearly all US troops from Syria amid a Turkish assault on the Kurds.

"Syria may have some help with Russia, and that's fine," Trump said.

"They've got a lot of sand over there. So, there's a lot of sand that they can play with."
He added: "Let them fight their own wars."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., publicly broke with Trump to call the US relationship with the Kurds "a great alliance."
Trump started on a positive note by suggesting they "work out a good deal," but then talked about crippling economic sanctions and concluded that the world "will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don't happen. Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!"