Trump genuinely desires to get US out of Syria: Analyst

President Donald Trump genuinely desires to get the United States out of Syria but the entire establishment is opposing him, an American foreign policy analyst says.

James Jatras, a former Senate foreign policy adviser in Washington, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV while commenting on a report which says Trump has been persuaded not to withdraw troops from Syria immediately, despite his recent announcement that the United States would "be coming out of Syria very soon.”

According to reports, top US Defense and State Department officials have adopted a totally different stance than that of Trump’s regarding the withdrawal of American troops from Syria, arguing that the US shall not leave the Arab country anytime soon as the “mission is not over.”

Trump’s advisers now have reportedly convinced him that an abrupt withdrawal from Syria could risk resurgence by the Daesh terrorist group

“Donald Trump’s foreign policy is very contradictory and really something of a mystery” Jatras told Press TV. “Look, during the campaign, he horrified the establishment of both parties by saying he wanted to get along with the Russians. He didn’t think we had any business in Ukraine.”

“He actually praised the Russians, the Syrian army and the Iranians for opposing Daesh in Syria. He said that the only interest we had in Syria was opposing Daesh. Now he says he wants to get out of Syria, but the entire establishment including the people of his own administration that he appointed himself, are opposing him on this just as they opposed his efforts to improve ties with Moscow,” he stated.  

“You really have to wonder why he appoints people to his own administration who do not share his foreign policy vision and then he turns around and says but this is still what I want to do. He said he wanted to get out of Afghanistan but now he has decided to stay there,” he noted.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in Syria. I think he is genuine in his desire to get us out of there. But everybody who was appointed in his administration from John Bolton to General Mattis to his former Secretary of State Mr. Tillerson and the new one, Mr. Pompeo, will oppose this. So we’ll see what happens,” the analyst said.

“It’s another contradiction of course. He says he wants to get out of Syria but he actually wants to defend our borders with Mexico using the military. And this also horrifies the foreign policy establishment. Evidently they think the defense department should not be defending our borders, we should be messing around in every other country around the world,” he concluded.

'How much more time do you need?'

The White House said on Wednesday the US military mission in Syria would come to a "rapid end,” but refused to provide a timetable for a complete troop withdrawal.

The White House statement said Daesh was almost completely decimated, and that Washington would consult its allies about the American withdrawal.

A top Trump administration official told NBC News on Wednesday that the president agreed in a meeting with his national security team Tuesday to keep American military presence in Syria for an undetermined period, but "wasn't thrilled about it, to say the least.”

When his advisers told him they needed more time to complete the mission, Trump demanded to know how much longer, the senior administration official said.

"If you need more time, how much more time do you need? Six months? A year?" he asked, according to the official.

His team said they could not tell how long it will take to defeat Daesh terrorists and train local forces to protect their gains after the United States leaves.

The official said Trump reluctantly agreed to give the effort more time when advisers reminded him that he has spoken against setting deadlines in foreign military operations in the past.

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