The commander of the US Central Command, General Joseph Votel, has expressed unhappiness with President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from Syria. He is a top US general in the Middle East.
The US has around 2,000 troops in Syria. Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw them last December.
While Trump claimed the “full defeat” of the Islamic State (IS) as the reason to withdraw his troops, Votel has warned that the IS was “far from defeated”.
Votel explained that the Syrian forces, assisted by the US right now, are not yet ready to fight and defeat the IS on their own. The IS still has leaders, fighters, facilitators and resources. Thus he has argued that the US needs to continue having their troops in Syria.
Votel inferred that he can consider the caliphate outfit is fully defeated only when it no longer has the capacity to execute attacks against the US and their allies. Their ideology is still powerful right now.
Picture courtesy: ANI
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