American Veteran Fights ISIS in Syria.
BLITZER: The end of an era in Afghanistan. A ceremony over the weekend ended 13 years of the British involvement. Both the massive camps in southwestern Afghanistan were turned over to the country's military. Just hours later, in northeast of Afghanistan, Taliban fighters killed as many as seven people in an attack on a court building. In Iraq, an ISIS attack killed more than a dozen Shia militia fighters aligned with the Iraqi military. That attack happened south of Baghdad. Meanwhile, in Syria, troops battling ISIS have added an American to their ranks. Our Ivan Watson has the story.</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Armed men are a common sight here in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria, a country embroiled in a vicious civil war. But one of the gunmen in this truck is not like the others. (on camera): How do people react to you when they see you and realize you're from the U.S.?</s>JORDAN MATSON, AMERICAN VETERAN JOINS ANTI-ISIS FIGHT: They ask me if I'll come over to dinner at their house.</s>WATSON (voice-over): Jordan Matson is a 28-year-old former U.S. Army soldier from Wisconsin.</s>WATSON: For the last month, he's also been a volunteer fighter in the Kurdish militia, known here as the</s>YPG. MATSON: I got in contact with the YPG on Facebook, and I prayed about it for about a month or two and just really soul searched, is this what I want to do. And eventually, you know, decided to do it.</s>WATSON: During his two years in the Army, Matson never once saw combat or deployment overseas. But soon after arriving here in Syria, he says he ended up in a battle against</s>ISIS. MATSON: The second day in, I got hit by a mortar in a fight.</s>WATSON: While recovering from shrapnel wounds he went to work online. Recruiting more foreigners to help the YPG fight against is.</s>MATSON: I've had from Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Canada, Australia, U.S., you name it, they have been asking. ISIS has threatened all these countries I've named to push their agenda, and the veterans of those nations that love their countries, don't want to sit by while this is happening.</s>WATSON: Back home in Wisconsin, Matson used to work in a food packing company.</s>MATSON: Other than that, we just hang out in here.</s>WATSON: Now he lives in places like this former restaurant converted into a militia camp. (on camera): What are the pictures?</s>MATSON: These are men that died fighting against</s>ISIS. WATSON (voice-over): The YPG are very lightly armed guerillas. (on camera): Is this even a flak jacket?</s>MATSON: No this is just a vest to carrying ammunition.</s>WATSON: Basically, people are running into battle without any armor?</s>MATSON: Yes.</s>WATSON: And wearing sneakers?</s>MATSON: Yes.</s>WATSON (voice-over): U.S. law enforcement officials say it's illegal for an American to join a Syrian militia. But Matson says, being here, fighting ISIS alongside the Kurds is a dream come true. (on camera): You could not be further from home right now.</s>MATSON: Yeah. I guess this is the other side of the world. All my life I wanted to be a soldier, I guess, growing up. So it fits well over here.</s>BLITZER: Ivan is joining us now from northern Iraq. Ivan, excellent reporting. Is the U.S. government providing any direct assistance to this Kurdish militia group the YPG?</s>WATSON (voice-over): Certainly did last week. They parachuted weapons and ammunition as well as medicine to YPG fighters in this Syrian border town of Kobani that they have been defending themselves for a month now in a siege against is. That was a big policy shift for the U.S. military and the U.S. government to help this Kurdish faction.</s>BLITZER: Because I know that the U.S. government, the State Department lists at least the PKK, one of the Kurdish groups as a terrorist organization, and some have suggested the YPG, the group that this American is fighting for, was an offshoot, if you will, of the PKK and that's why it's illegal, according to U.S. law, and you point this out in the piece, for Americans to go over there and volunteer to fight for this group.</s>WATSON: That's right. YPG fighters, they insist they are a sister organization of the PKK, which the U.S. and Europe list as a terrorist organization. The fact is, as I met many fighters there who were former PKK fighters, they venerate the same man, Abdulla Oldjulan (ph), the imprisoned leader of PKK. They had a lot of symbolism of the PKK. And this Kurdish movement has a lot of history of changing their name to get around that terrorist designation. But they are very close to that organization. And it seems that the U.S. is trying to fudge its own terrorism definition, making the enemy of an enemy, that being ISIS, suddenly a friend.</s>BLITZER: I know that so many of the Kurds I've spoken to that are really upset that the State Department still continues to list some of these Kurdish militia groups as terrorist organizations and all the consequences that unfold from that. Excellent explanation. We'll continue to watch. And you're absolutely right, the fact that the U.S. is supplying the YPG with some direct assistance represents a significant change. Ivan Watson reporting for us. That's it for me. Thank you very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room." For our international viewers, a quick check of your headlines coming up after a quick break. For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right at the top of the hour.