U.S should keep Troops in Syria and Afghanistan: Mitch McConnell

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On Tuesday, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered his words against President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. He proposed a measure that would keep U.S troops in countries including Syria and Afghanistan to continue the fight against the ISIS and Al-Qaeda. McConnell informed the U.S Senate regarding the measure. He said, “It would recognize the danger of a precipitous withdrawal from either conflict and highlight the need for diplomatic engagement and political solutions to the underlying conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan”.

He added, “We have seen the costs of a precipitous withdrawal before in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have seen the downsides of telling the enemy they can just wait us out”. Trump announced that the U.S will pull all troops out of Syria and significantly decrease the number of troops in Afghanistan. The Senate Intelligence Committee heard briefings from the head of the CIA and the Director of National Intelligence on Tuesday. Both officials said that the fight against the ISIS in the Middle East was still incomplete.

The Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats informed the Senate that ISIS has returned to its guerrilla warfare roots while continuing to plot attacks and direct its supporters worldwide. Coats added that ISIS is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria. The comments directly contradicted Trump’s previous statements that ISIS had been defeated. The Director of National Intelligence released its World Wide Threat Assessment, which demonstrated that many intelligence community assessments are at odds with Trump’s statements.

The report said, “ISIS still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria, and it maintains eight branches, more than a dozen networks, and thousands of dispersed supporters around the world, despite significant leadership and territorial losses. The group will exploit any reduction in CT pressure to strengthen its clandestine presence and accelerate rebuilding key capabilities, such as media production and external operations. ISIS very likely will continue to pursue external attacks from Iraq and Syria against regional and Western adversaries, including the United States”.