A Syrian Kurdish official said today she hopes the United States will keep its forces in the region in the future no matter who is president.

Ilham Ahmed, president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political arm of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control northeast Syria, said at an event hosted by Newlines Institute that it is in America’s interests to help Kurdish-led forces fight the Islamic State (IS) in the country.

“What we have seen is that each president comes from a party that has its own strategy and policy regarding Syria,” Ahmed said in response to Al-Monitor’s question. “We expect overall that the strategy for the US is to protect firstly its homeland security by fighting terrorism alongside Kurds and the Syrian Democratic Forces.”

Ahmed spoke about the situation in northeast Syria at a virtual event held by the Washington-based think tank. The area is known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, and the Democratic Union Party is a major party in the region. The administration has a significant degree of autonomy, though the Syrian government has a limited presence in the region and does not fully recognize its administration. The population consists of Kurds, Arabs, Aramaic-speaking Christians, Turkmen, Yazidis and others.