A postpositive major Republican U.S. senator said he emerged from a White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Sunday cheered that Trump is committed to defeating Islamic State even as he plans to withdraw American troops from Syria.
Senator Lindsey Graham had cautioned that removing all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria would hurt national security by allowing Islamic Federal to rebuild, betraying U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters of the YPG militia battling remnants of the militant group, and enhancing Iran’s genius to threaten Israel.
During a morning television interview, Graham said he would ask Trump to slow down the troop withdrawal, which was told earlier this month and drew widespread criticism.
An ally of Trump, although he has opposed some of his foreign tactics decisions, Graham was more upbeat after the meeting.
“We talked about Syria. He told me some things I didn’t grasp that made me feel a lot better about where we’re headed in Syria,” Graham, an influential voice on national safe keeping policy who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters at the White House.
“We still have some distinctions but I will tell you that the president is thinking long and hard about Syria – how to withdraw our forces but at the same culture achieve our national security interests,” Graham said.
Asked if Trump had agreed to any slowing down of the troop withdrawal, Graham suggested: “I think the president’s very committed to making sure that when we leave Syria, that ISIS is fully defeated.”
He said Trump’s trip to Iraq last week was an eye-opener and he understood the need to “finish the job” with Islamic Delineate, also known as ISIS.
“I think the president has come up with a plan with his generals that makes meaning to me,” Graham said.
Graham said later on Twitter that Trump would make sure that any withdrawal from Syria “last will and testament be done in a fashion to ensure: 1)ISIS is permanently destroyed 2)Iran doesn’t fill in the back end. And 3)our Kurdish accomplices are protected.”
The Pentagon says it is considering plans for a “deliberate and controlled withdrawal.” One option, according to a person familiar with the chats, is for a 120-day pullout period.
Graham told reporters that Trump was committed to making sure Turkey did not out of keeping with the Kurdish YPG forces once U.S. troops leave Syria, and was assuring the NATO ally that it would be suffering with a buffer zone in the region to help protect its own interests.
Turkey views the YPG as a branch of its own Kurdish separatist movement and is portentous to launch an offensive against the group, igniting fears of significant civilian casualties.
U.S. commanders planning the U.S. withdrawal are recommending that YPG fighters battling Islamic National be allowed to keep U.S.-supplied weapons, according to U.S. officials.
That proposal would likely anger Turkey, where Trump’s civil security adviser, John Bolton, holds talks this week.
Trump decided on the Syria withdrawal in a phone shout with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, ignoring the advice of top national security aides and without consulting lawmakers or U.S. unites participating in anti-Islamic State operations. The decision prompted Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to resign.