US President Donald Trump has not changed his stance on withdrawing his forces Syria, but wants to ensure their safe exit from the war-torn country, said the White House Monday.
“The president hasn’t changed his position, as he mentioned his primary goal is to ensure the safety of our troops and the safety of our allies as well,” White House spokeswoman Mercedes Schlapp told Fox News. “And so, the Department of Defense will come up with its operational plan to safely withdraw our troops.”
"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!" Trump tweeted.
On Sunday, White House national security adviser John Bolton added a new condition to the US withdrawal from Syria, saying Turkey must agree to protect the United States’ Kurdish allies.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the United States would be pulling its troops out of Syria but suggested the move might not happen soon.
Trump’s abrupt decision to announce a US pullout left many questions open.
On a December visit to a US air base in Iraq, Trump said that military commanders had repeatedly requested extensions for the 2,000 US troops in Syria - requests that he finally turned down because he said ISIS was largely beaten.
Allies like Britain and France warned that ISIS was not defeated. Questions were also raised over the fate of Kurdish groups that have done much of the fighting alongside the United States in Syria, but now fear attacks from Turkey.
