President Trump’s sudden decision this week to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria and up to half the 14,000 U.S. forces from the war in Afghanistan shocked Washington — but it probably shouldn’t have.
Trump, in his own chaotic way, was doing what he had long vowed to do: end or at least sharply limit America’s endless wars in the post-9/11 age and bring American troops home.
Lawmakers and foreign leaders called the plans rash and misguided, warning that a broad U.S. retreat could create new instability in an unstable world and raise doubts about America’s military commitments.
Defense Secretary James N. Mattis was so furious that Trump would abandon allies in Syria and Afghanistan that he resigned in protest, telling the president that he needed a Pentagon chief whose “views are better aligned with yours.”
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https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-mattis-war-20181221-story.html
