US equipment leaving Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday it has started pulling equipment, but not troops, out of Syria as a first step in meeting President Donald Trump’s demand for a complete military withdrawal. The announcement fueled concern about how quickly the U.S. will abandon its Kurdish allies, amid contradictory statements by administration officials on an exit timetable.

In coming weeks, the contingent of about 2,000 troops is expected to depart even as the White House vows to keep pressure on the Islamic State group. Once the troops are gone, the U.S. will have ended three years of organizing, arming, advising and providing air cover for Syrian, Kurdish and Arab fighters in an open-ended campaign devised by the Obama administration to deal the IS group a lasting defeat.

Uncertainty over the timing and terms of the pullout have raised questions about the broader strategy for fighting Islamic extremism, including Trump’s stated intention to reduce U.S. forces in Afghanistan this summer.

U.S. airstrikes against IS in Syria began in September 2014, and ground troops moved in the following year.

Trump’s decision to leave Syria, which he initially said would be rapid but later slowed down, shocked U.S. allies and angered the Kurds, who are vulnerable to attack by Turkey. It prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and criticism in Congress.