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SYRIA-CONFLICT-US-TRUMP-FUNDS
Trump freezes Syria recovery funds: report
WASHINGTON, March 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The White House has instructed the
State Department to freeze over $200 million in funds earmarked for “recovery
efforts” in Syria, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The report — which came a day after Trump declared in a speech that the
US would be quitting Syria “very soon” — is another indication the president
wants to disengage from the country.
Officials told AFP that Trump’s aside in his speech was not a slip, but
that for several weeks he had been pushing back against the idea of a long or
medium term US commitment to stabilizing eastern Syria.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump called for the spending freeze
after reading a news report that said the US had committed the funds for
recovery efforts in Syria, which has been wracked by a more than seven-year
civil war.
The US has more than 2,000 military personnel in eastern Syria as part of
international efforts to defeat the Islamic State group, an extremist
organization that once controlled swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
Speaking in Ohio on Thursday, Trump indicated that with the war against IS
winding down, he wants American involvement in Syria to do likewise.
“We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take
care of it now,” he promised.
Trump did not say who the others were who might take care of Syria, but
Russia and Iran have sizable forces in the country to support President
Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
His eagerness to quit the conflict flies in the face of a new US Syria
strategy announced in January by then secretary of state Rex Tillerson — who
has since been sacked.
Tillerson argued that US forces must remain engaged in Syria to prevent IS
and Al-Qaeda from returning and to deny Iran a chance “to further strengthen
its position in Syria.”
In a speech at Stanford University, he also warned that “a total
withdrawal of American personnel at this time would restore Assad and
continue his brutal treatment against his own people.”
But Tillerson has gone after being dismissed in a tweet. And Trump, who
increasingly makes foreign policy announcements without seeking the advice of
US generals or diplomats, wants out.
“We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. And you know what we have for
it? Nothing,” Trump declared, promising to focus future US spending on
building jobs and infrastructure at home.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0835 hrs