During the Northern Raqqa offensive (May 2016), US Special Operation Forces were widely reported and photographed taking part, wearing YPG and YPJ badges on their uniforms.[62] When in June 2016 the Manbij offensive started, the Washington Post reported it under the headline of "Ignoring Turkey, U.S. backs Kurds in drive against ISIS in Syria".[63] On 7 November 2016, when asked about the federalization of Syria, Mark C. Toner, the Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, said "We don’t want to see any kind of ad hoc federalism or federalist system arise. We don’t want to see semi-autonomous zones. The reality is, though, as territory is liberated from Daesh, you got to get some kind of governance back into these areas, but by no means are we condoning or – any kind of, as I said, ad hoc semi-autonomous areas in northern Syria".[64] According to lieutenant general Stephen J. Townsend of the United States Army in an interview on 29 March 2017, the US does not recognize the autonomous region as a "Kurdish state" but instead sees it as a "multi-cultural, multi-party, multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian Syrian region being liberated from ISIS."[65] Effective 31 January 2018, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) is registered in the US as a "foreign political party" under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.[66]