Trump ally Graham: president 'thinking long and hard about Syria'

A close ally of Donald Trump said on Sunday that the president "thought long and hard" about his plan to withdraw US troops from Syria and his commitment to defeat ISIS, and secured a meeting at the White House.

Lindsey Graham did not say that Trump had promised to reconsider the recall, which the senator had previously said he hoped would convince the president to do so.

At the same time, a retired commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan criticized plans to remove thousands of Americans from that country and said the president himself was "immoral."

Graham, of South Carolina, is an influential member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee that opposed Trump in foreign policy decisions, while endeavoring to approach him in a way far from the beginning. of the 2016 elections, when the two men exchanged fierce insults.

Earlier this month, Graham used emotional language when he warned that the withdrawal from Syria and the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan could pave the way for a second September 11. On Sunday morning, announcing his meeting with Trump, he was more measured and said he would ask the president to "sit down with his generals and reconsider the procedure to follow."

At the same time, Stanley McChrystal, who led US and NATO forces in Afghanistan for about a year, said that the withdrawal of almost half of the 14,000 US troops still serving in that country would reduce the incitement of the Taliban to Talk about peace after more than 17 years. of war. Talking about a withdrawal, he said, meant that the United States "had essentially changed its most important leverage point." Trump has also "shaken" Afghan allies, he said.

Graham warned that the withdrawal of all US forces from Syria would undermine national security by allowing ISIS to rebuild, betraying US-backed Kurdish fighters and building the capacity of the Islamic State. Iran to threaten Israel.

"Slow down," he said speaking to CNN's State of the Union. "Make sure you do it right. Make sure Isis never comes back. Do not entrust Syria to the Iranians. I want to make war in the enemy's court, not in ours. "

Then he went to the White House. Whatever Trump said to Graham, it seemed to have calmed him a little. On leaving the executive mansion, the senator told the press, "We talked about Syria. He told me some things I did not know that had reassured me a lot about the direction we are taking in Syria.

"We still have some differences, but I will tell you that the President is thinking for a long time about Syria, how to withdraw our forces, while realizing our interests in national security."

The Department of Defense has indicated that it plans to prepare a "voluntary and controlled withdrawal". According to one person familiar with the discussions, one of the options is a 120-day withdrawal period.

Graham has teamed up with other Republicans and Democrats to criticize Trump's order to withdraw the 2,000 US troops deployed to mainly support Kurdish anti-Isis fighters. Turkey regards the Kurdish militia, known as YPG, as a branch of its own Kurdish separatist movement and threatens to launch an offensive against it.

US commanders recommend that YPG fighters be allowed to keep US-supplied weapons, US officials said. This proposal would be angry with Turkey, where National Security Adviser John Bolton will hold talks this week.

Trump has decided to withdraw Syria by a phone call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, ignoring his aides, legislators and international allies. The decision prompted Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to resign, submitting a letter to Trump also referring to information about his plan for Afghanistan and criticizing the treatment of American friends.

Like Mattis, McChrystal is a retired general. Discussing Afghanistan on ABC this week on Sunday, he said: "If you tell the Taliban that we are leaving absolutely on a specific date, we are reducing, weakening and weakening.

He also feared, he said, that the Afghan people no longer lose confidence in their United States.

"I think we probably shook them," he said.

Asked what he would say if he were ever asked to join the Trump administration, McChrystal said: “I think it’s important for me to work for people who I think are basically honest, who tell the truth as best they know it.”

Asked if he thought Trump was immoral, he said: “I think he is.”

McChrystal has criticized a sitting president before. Barack Obama accepted his resignation in June 2010, after he made scathing remarks in a magazine article about officials including Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden.