MESOPOTAMIA NEWS SYRIA/ROJAVA : “So far he has not given an order to just get out!”

Syria Daily: Trump v. Pentagon Over Withdrawal of US Troops

By Scott Lucas –  eaworldview – March 31, 2018  – Officials close to Donald Trump are pressing his declaration that he wants US troops out of Syria.

Last week it was reported that Trump, in a conversation with Saudi Arabian King Salman, had asked Riyadh for $4 billion to cover local costs of administration and reconstruction in northern Syria, in return for the departure of the American forces. However, it was only in a rambling speech in Ohio on Thursday that he publicly proposed withdrawal:

We’re knocking the hell out of ISIS. We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon, very soon we’re coming out.

“Two senior administration officials” said on Friday that the statement was more than an impulsive thought bubble — even if sets Trump against a Pentagon which is planning on keeping a US force in Syria, and even if it effectively means a reduction in support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that Washington has backed since autumn 2015.

One said that Trump has made clear that “once ISIS and its remnants are destroyed, the United States would be looking toward having countries in the region playing a larger role in ensuring security and leaving it at that”.

Two other administration officials also confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that Trump has ordered the State Department to freeze more than $200 million in funds for the “stabilization” effort in areas which the SDF retook from the Islamic State.

Trump called for the suspension after reading an article that the US had recently committed the additional $200 million. The funding was announced in February by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — fired weeks later by Trump — at a meeting in Kuwait of the anti-ISIS coalition. A spokesperson for the National Security Council said, “In line with the President’s guidance, the Department of State continually re-evaluates appropriate assistance levels and how best they might be utilized, which they do on an ongoing basis.”

The Pentagon and military commanders have warned that ISIS could regain areas in Syria if they are not stabilized, and that a presence is needed to check Iran’s expanding position in the country. However, US officials say Trump is not convinced. An NSC meeting is scheduled for early next week. One official said that, despite Trump’s impulses, no change in policy has been confirmed: “So far he has not given an order to just get out.” www.mesop.de