Trump pulling out of Syria. Might Afghanistan be next? on WTOP| WASHINGTON (AP) — Against the advice of many in his own administration, President Donald Trump is pulling U. S. troops out of Syria. Could a withdrawal from Afghanistan be far behind? Trump has recently suggested a willingness to stay in…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Against the advice of many in his own administration, President Donald Trump is pulling U. S. troops out of Syria. Could a withdrawal from Afghanistan be far behind?
Trump has said his instinct is to quit Afghanistan as a lost cause, but more recently he’s suggested a willingness to stay in search of peace with the Taliban. However, the abruptness with which he turned the page on Syria raises questions about whether combat partners like Iraq and Afghanistan should feel confident that he will not pull the plug on them, too.
“If he’s willing to walk away from Syria, I think we should be concerned about whether Afghanistan is next,” Jennifer Cafarella, the director of intelligence planning at the Institute for the Study of War, said in an interview Wednesday.
The U. S. has been at war in Afghanistan for 17 years and still has about 15,000 troops there helping government troops combat the Taliban. The approximately 5,000 U. S. troops in Iraq are training and advising Iraqi security forces as they continue to fight Islamic State militants, a battle the U. S. entered in 2014 after IS swept into Iraq from Syria.
Before other officials confirmed the withdrawal decision, Trump tweeted, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” The aspect of this that he did not address is whether the extremists or others will fill the security vacuum created by the U. S. withdrawal to regroup and pose a new threat.
The administration said it intends to continue combatting Islamic State extremists globally and could return to Syria if necessary.
