Syria: Trump is not withdrawing troops but surrendering to a lot of players, says security expert

Washington, Dec 19: US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American troops from Syria has led to severe criticism. It's not just his Republican colleagues who have slammed the move but also analysts who did not find any merit in it.

CNN national security analyst Samantha Vinograd on Wednesday, December 19, even went to the extreme of blasting Trump's decision to withdraw troops as a "surrender" to Russia, Iran, Turkey, Bashar al-Assad, the dictator of Syria, and also to the terror groups who she felt would utilise this opportunity to see their resurgence.

"I would not call this withdrawal, I would call this a surrender. The president's decision is surrendering obviously to Russian, Iranian, Turkish, and Assad's own designs in Syria. But it's also surrendering to the very strong likelihood that ISIS or other terrorist groups will be resurgent in Syria based upon his decision," Vindograd, who has spent a year in Iraq and participated in several troop previews. She said winning against terrorists on the battlefield was only the first step in a counter-terrorism strategy and keeping forces on the ground to hold on to the gains was more critical for a long-term counter-terrorism strategy.