AFGHANISTAN/ISIS/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump sought to reassure nervous allies on Wednesday [2-6-19] that his administration would continue an unrelenting hunt for Islamic State fighters ‘for many years to come,’ even as the United States prepares to withdraw troops from the war zones of Syria and Afghanistan. Mr. Trump, speaking to international diplomats at the State Department, said he expected to soon announce that the United States and its partners, including Syrian Arab and Kurdish allies, will have reclaimed the last slivers of territory that Islamic State fighters control in Syria. But the president acknowledged that even after that happens, militants will go underground and continue to pose a serious threat wherever the extremist group operates…His comments, echoing themes from his State of the Union address on Tuesday [2-5-19], was a notable departure from the bluster of his assertion in December that the Islamic State had been defeated. For a commander in chief who frequently ridicules international organizations — including the European Union and NATO — Mr. Trump was uncharacteristically solicitous of the 79 nations and international organizations that make up the global coalition to fight ISIS.”
–Eric Schmitt, “Trump Seeks to Reassure Allies on ISIS Fight as Syria Withdrawal Looms,” The New York Times online, February 6, 2019