Troop withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan didn’t leave only Jim Mattis feeling sidelined.
NATO allies were blindsided.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt decisions on troop withdrawals in Syria and Afghanistan, which also prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, have left America’s closest allies and officials at NATO headquarters feeling like victims of an ambush.
With no advance notice or preparation of Trump’s plans, allies committed by the North Atlantic Treaty to common defense have found themselves scouring Twitter for clues as to what the U.S. commander-in-chief might do next.
Particularly jarring for NATO was word of Trump’s plans for a withdrawal of 7,000 troops from Afghanistan, which have been described in news accounts, but the president himself has not even mentioned on Twitter — unlike the Syria withdrawal which he first announced with a tweet on Wednesday declaring victory against the Islamic State.
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Since 2015, NATO has led a joint mission in Afghanistan, Operation Resolute Support, to train and advise the Afghan security forces. Currently, the operation involves approximately 16,000 troops and a total of 41 nations.
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NATO allies were hardly alone in being left in the dark by Trump. Neither the U.S. Congress nor the Afghan government were briefed on his withdrawal plans in advance. The U.S. also leads a 74-nation Defeat-ISIS coalition, whose members also apparently received no notice of the Syria withdrawal.
Officials said that NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg spoke by telephone on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the U.S. “posture” in Syria.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to NATO said: “The U.S. remains committed to the Alliance and to working with allies to deter our adversaries and defend our citizens.”
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Trump's abrupt decisions on troop withdrawals in Syria and Afghanistan have left America's closest allies and officials at NATO headquarters feeling like victims of an ambush https://t.co/FofPp1qUir
— POLITICO (@politico) December 22, 2018
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