National Security Adviser John Bolton said that the United States is ‘very optimistic’ that France and Britain will participate in a residual force that US President Donald Trump wants to leave in Syria.
"Certainly in conversations this past week with my British and French counterparts, I'm very optimistic that they're going to participate," Bolton said in an interview with ABC.
"It hasn't happened formally yet, but they're looking at it," he added.
Bolton insisted there was no contradiction between Trump's assertion that the so-called ‘caliphate’ declared by ISIS has been eliminated 100 percent, and the assessment of the top US commander in the Middle East, Joseph Votel, who has told Congress the fight is "far from over."
"The president has never said that the elimination of the territorial caliphate means the end of ISIS in total. We know that's not the case," AFP quoted Bolton as saying.
"The ISIS threat will remain," he added. "But one reason that the President has committed to keeping an American presence in Iraq and a small part of an observer force in Syria, is against the possibility that there would be a real resurgence of ISIS."
Trump abruptly announced in December the immediate and complete withdrawal of the 2,000 US troops deployed in northeastern Syria, declaring victory against ISIS. Then, under pressure from Congress and the Pentagon, he agreed to leave a residual force of some 200 US troops.
An objective of the international force is to guarantee the security of its Syrian Kurd allies. Turkey, a NATO member, views the Kurdish combatants as ‘terrorists’, and the Europeans fear they would be vulnerable if Ankara launched an offensive.
