Trump denies shift on pullout in Syria

Exit to be at ‘proper pace,’ he tweets

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday pushed back against media reports that he had altered the timeline for removing U.S. troops from Syria, denying his administration had issued a series of contradictory statements about plans for ending America’s role in the war.

“We will be leaving at a proper pace while at the same time continuing to fight ISIS and doing all else that is prudent and necessary!” the president said in a message on Twitter, referring to the Pentagon’s ongoing operation to defeat the Islamic State.

His comment, which differed from earlier promises of a swift departure for the more than 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in Syria, was the latest iteration of an evolving road map for concluding the military mission there.

Trump’s statement came a day after national security adviser John Bolton, speaking to reporters during a tour of the Middle East, said the troop departure would occur only after Islamic State militants are fully routed.

Both his comments and Trump’s conflict with officials’ initial statements after the president’s Dec. 19

announcement that all troops would come home in short order. Trump also declared victory against the Islamic State, contradicting military assessments.

“Our boys, our young women, our men, they’re all coming back and they’re coming back now. We won,” Trump said in a video message on Twitter.

That abrupt pronouncement upended plans for a continued presence in Syria, where U.S. troops work with Syrian Kurdish forces battling militants in the eastern part of the country.

The move surprised allies, and Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned after clashing with Trump over the plans.

While officials said Trump had initially ordered a 30-day departure, the White House later agreed to an exit within 120 days, which would permit troops more time to break down bases and safely remove equipment and personnel.

In recent days, White House and State Department officials have appeared to back away from plans for an immediate departure and from assertions that the battle against the militants is over.

Instead they have suggested the drawdown would be conditioned on the conclusion of fighting with the Islamic State and on a promise from Turkey, a NATO ally, that it would not attack Syrian partner forces, which Ankara views as an offshoot of a terrorist group.

On Monday, the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee accused Trump of “changing course like a drunken sailor.”

“It shows that our president literally doesn’t know what he is doing. He is making it up as he goes,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., told CNN. “The way he is going about it is disastrous.”

But Trump, commenting on Twitter on Monday, denied any change had occurred.

“The Failing New York Times has knowingly written a very inaccurate story on my intentions on Syria,” Trump said, referring to stories from numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, that noted the shifting plans. “No different from my original statements,” he said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is also traveling to the Middle East this week, said Monday that “there is no change” in the administration’s commitment to defeating the Islamic State or countering Iranian influence in Syria.

“It’s a change in tactics,” Pompeo said in an interview with CNBC. “We’re going to withdraw our 2,000 soldiers from Syria, but the mission … remains in full,” with some activities being carried out by “allies.”

In an opinion piece published Monday by The New York Times, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised that his nation would fill the gap left by the United States.

He noted that Turkey, unlike the United States, had sent ground troops several times to directly battle the Islamic State in northern Syria.

Erdogan voiced support for an American exit but said it should be “planned careful- ly and performed in cooperation with the right partners to protect the interests of the United States, the international community and the Syrian people.”

“Turkey, which has NATO’s second largest standing army, is the only country with the power and commitment to perform that task,” he wrote.

Officials at the Pentagon and State Department have expressed concern that a precipitous departure could endanger the chief U.S. partner force, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, and allow the Islamic State to return.

The White House has said that Turkish-backed forces will take over the campaign against the Islamic State from the Syrian Democratic Forces, something that many officials caution is unrealistic.

THE KURDISH QUESTION

Trump’s tweet came as Bolton traveled to Ankara to meet with Turkish leaders. Bolton is set to press Turkey for assurances that it won’t attack the Kurdish fighters.

The talks are likely to be contentious, as Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units a terrorist group linked to an insurgency within its borders, and has threatened to mount a campaign against it.

Bolton, who is expected to meet today with Turkish officials including Erdogan, said the U.S. would oppose any such move against its allies in the fight against the Islamic State.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar hit out at Bolton on Monday, saying on Twitter that Turkey’s fight isn’t against Kurds but against Kurdish rebels and Islamic State militants who pose a threat to all ethnic groups.

“Our fight is against YPG, PKK and IS terrorists who are a threat against our Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen brothers and all ethnic and religious groups,” he said, using acronyms for the People’s Protection Units, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Islamic State.

And Turkey’s presidential spokesman, with whom Bolton will meet today, called allegations that his country planned to attack the U.S.-allied Kurds in Syria “irrational” and said Turkey was fighting terrorism for national security.

Bolton had said the protection of U.S. allies in Syria, including the People’s Protection Units, was among “the objectives that we want to accomplish that condition the withdrawal” of U.S. forces.

In meetings with Turkish officials today, Bolton said he will seek “to find out what their objectives and capabilities are and that remains uncertain.”

He will be joined by the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, who will remain in Turkey for additional meetings with Turkish military officials centered on pressing for protection for the Kurds, as well as Jim Jeffrey, the special representative for Syrian engagement and the newly named American special envoy for the anti-Islamic State coalition. Jeffrey will travel from Turkey into Syria to reassure the Kurdish fighters that they are not being abandoned, Bolton said.

A senior Kurdish official said Monday that Syria’s Kurds are awaiting clarifications from the U.S. Speaking from northern Syria on Monday, Badran Ciya Kurd said the Kurds have not been informed of any change in the U.S. position and were in the dark about Bolton’s latest comments.

“We have not been formally or directly notified, all what we heard were media statements,” he said.

Kurdish officials have held conversations with Moscow and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government about protection.

Bolton said the U.S. has asked the Kurds to “stand fast now” and allow the U.S. to continue negotiations. “I think they know who their friends are,” he added, speaking of the Kurds.

Ciya Kurd said Bolton, through his comments, acknowledged that Turkey was killing the Kurds and that he wants guarantees that this would not happen.

“Turkey constitutes a bigger threat to Kurdish existence than Daesh and all international terrorist organizations,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Information for this article was contributed by Missy Ryan, Karen DeYoung and Paul Sonne of The Washington Post; and by Zeke Miller, Suzan Fraser and Bassem Mroue of The Associated Press.