U.S. President Trump’s national security adviser, John R. Bolton, rolled back Trump’s decision to rapidly withdraw from Syria, laying out conditions Sunday for a pullout that could leave American forces there for months or even years. Bolton, making a visit to Israel, told reporters that American forces would remain in Syria until the last remnants of the Islamic State (IS) were defeated and Turkey provided guarantees that it would not strike Kurdish forces allied with the United States. He and other top White House advisers have led a behind-the-scenes effort to slow Trump’s order and reassure allies, including Israel. “We don’t think the Turks ought to undertake military action that’s not fully coordinated with and agreed to by the United States, at a minimum so they don’t endanger our troops,” Bolton said in Jerusalem, where he was traveling ahead of a visit Tuesday to Turkey. Bolton’s comments inserted into Trump’s strategy something the president had omitted when he announced Dec. 19 that the United States would depart within 30 days: any conditions that must be met before the pullout. The remarks also reflected the disarray that has surrounded the president’s decision, which took his staff and foreign allies by surprise and drew objections from the Pentagon that it was logistically impossible and strategically unwise. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned within hours of the announcement, and the Pentagon chief of staff, Kevin M. Sweeney, said Saturday evening that he was also leaving. While Bolton said Sunday that he expected American forces to eventually leave northeastern Syria, where most of the 2,000 troops in the country are based for the mission against the Islamic State, he began to lay out an argument for keeping some troops at a garrison in the southeast that is used to monitor the flow of Iranian arms and soldiers. In September, three months before Trump’s announcement, Bolton had declared that the United States would remain in Syria as long as Iranians were on the ground there. Asked on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” if Bolton’s comments amounted to an admission that Trump had made a mistake, Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who at times has been one of the president’s staunchest supporters, said, “This is the reality setting in that you’ve got to plan this out.” Graham, who described the dangers of making the announcement first and then considering the longer-term implications, added, “The president is slowing down and is re-evaluating his policies in light of those three objectives: Don’t let Iran get the oil fields, don’t let the Turks slaughter the Kurds, and don’t let IS come back.” (SD-Agencies) |