White House seeks to replace U.S. troops in Syria

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is struggling to assemble a coalition of Arab military forces to replace U.S. troops battling Islamic State militants in eastern Syria, a roadblock that could indefinitely delay President Donald Trump’s goal of pulling American forces out of the country, U.S. officials said.

Allies in the region are deeply skeptical about sending their troops — and many are even reluctant to contribute funds — to help stabilize cities and towns liberated from Islamic State, according to senior U.S. officials, if the United States intends to pull out, as Trump has threatened.

Roughly 2,000 U.S. troops have been working with local fighters in eastern Syria to defeat Islamic State. The militants’ presence east of the Euphrates River has shrunk to a few towns and rural strongholds that are being pounded by U.S.-led airstrikes.

But what to do once those fighters are defeated remains a matter of stark disagreement between Trump and his advisers, especially at the Pentagon, where officials fear Trump’s desire for a rapid troop pullout could enable the militants to regroup and give a freer hand to Russia and Iran.

Trump signaled plans for an abrupt U.S. pullout this month when he declared he wanted to remove American troops “very soon,” and news reports indicated he told aides he wanted them out in six months. Pentagon and State Department officials rushed to reassure allies involved in possible contributions to a Syrian follow-on force that there is no timetable for a U.S. pullout.

Even so, the prospects for Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab countries to send troops and trainers to Syria is remote, U.S. officials said. Although worried about Iran’s growing presence, they fear becoming bogged down in Syria’s multi-sided civil war and being handed the difficult job of controlling Islamic State.

“There is no serious appetite in the region to do that much on the ground,” said a senior U.S. official involved in the talks with allies, who spoke on the condition he not be identified to discuss internal assessments. “One thing is certain: No other military, particularly from the region, will enter Syria if we are not there in some capacity.”

U.S. officials are warning the White House that the U.S. is risking repeating the same mistake it made in Iraq, when President Barack Obama withdrew U.S. forces in December 2011 — despite warnings from the Pentagon and critics that Iraq was still unstable — only to send them back in 2014 after Islamic State fighters swept across the border from Syria and appeared on the verge of capturing Baghdad.

“We learned that the Iraqi forces were incapable of providing security inside the country, and that gave the enemy an opportunity to resurge,” Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. “That’s where, really, ISIS had the space to grow.”

Hoping to prevent a recurrence, the Pentagon is discussing a plan to continue U.S. airstrikes and special operations raids against Islamic State, also known by the acronym ISIS, in Syria even after U.S. ground forces withdraw. The concept is aimed partly at reassuring allies worried that the U.S. will leave them unprotected if they contribute to a stabilization force in eastern Syria, the officials said.

U.S. ground troops would be gradually withdrawn beginning later this year. But airstrikes and ground operations staged from nearby bases in the region would aim to keep Islamic State contained, targeting leaders, bomb-making facilities, equipment and training facilities, a second official familiar with Pentagon planning said.