TURKEY and the United States have agreed a “road map” withdrawing Kurdish forces from the Syrian city of Manbij, the countries announced in a joint statement.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu arrived in Washington for talks yesterday in an attempt to heal a growing rift between the Nato allies over US support for the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara designates a terrorist organisation.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mr Cavusoglu “endorsed a road map” to “ensure security and stability in Manbij,” according to a State Department statement issued after the meeting.

Mr Cavusoglu said work on preparing for the implementation of the agreement would begin within the next 10 days.

“We will decide, when the military will enter the area after the withdrawal of the YPG, how they will monitor it, who will govern the region,” he said.

Details of the agreement were not released but officials confirmed that it contained plans for the withdrawal of all Kurdish forces from Manbij. They did not confirm whether Turkey would play a role in the future security of the city.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched Operation Olive Branch in January, an invasion and occupation of the largely Kurdish Afrin canton in northern Syria.

The military intervention has been branded illegal and Turkey has been accused of war crimes, with allegations of beheadings, extrajudicial killings, rape and the use of chemical weapons.

More than 170,000 people have been displaced as a result of the invasion, with many living in refugee camps with severe shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

Mr Erdogan has made numerous statements about “reclaiming Manbij” as he conducts what Kurds describe as an “ethnic cleansing operation” in northern Syria on the pretext of securing Turkey’s borders from “terrorists.”

The YPG said today that it had withdrawn its fighters from Manbij in November 2016 following its liberation from Isis and had no troops stationed in the city.

The Kurdish-led group explained in a statement that it handed control of security to the Manbij Military Council (MMC), leaving behind a group of YPG military trainers who have since left.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to drive out all foreign forces from the country, including the United States.