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"The United States began withdrawing its troops from Syria on Friday, an American military spokesman said, a first step in President Trump’s plan to remove American forces from one of the Middle East’s most complex battlefields."

"Eleven years after the United States began building an air force for Afghanistan at a cost now nearing $8 billion, it remains a frustrating work in progress, with no end in sight. Some aviation experts say the Afghans will rely on American maintenance and other support for years. Such dependence could complicate President Trump’s moves to extricate the United States from the 17-year-old war against Taliban insurgents — a war in which they lately appear to be gaining ground."

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"Both Turkey and the Syrian Kurds are now pinning their hopes on Russia to resolve the problems created by President Trump’s abrupt decision last month to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, which has threatened to ignite a new war between the United States’ Kurdish and Turkish allies."

"As negotiations to end a partial government shutdown broke down Wednesday, White House officials say an increasingly likely option is for President Trump to declare a national emergency over border security and try to use Pentagon funds to pay for construction of a wall or other barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border."

"The head of Army Training and Doctrine Command said Jan. 7 that the U.S. military's advise-and-assist missions in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan have eroded young leaders' confidence and willingness to make necessary decisions."

"The U.S. special envoy on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has begun a two-week diplomatic tour of Afghanistan and other countries in the region in an attempt to push forward the peace process with the Taliban."

The Heritage Foundation Report: "It is in America’s interest to continue the training, advising, and assisting mission for the ANDSF. Now is not the time to abandon the Afghans and repeat the mistakes of the Obama Administration when it abruptly removed all trainers from Iraq in 2011, paving the way for the invasion by the Islamic State."

"Anthony Zinni has become the latest senior military officer to leave the Trump administration, resigning his position as special envoy to help resolve disputes in the Persian Gulf and build a strategic U.S. military alliance with Arab governments in the region."

"The U.S. military is drafting plans to withdraw a few thousand troops from Afghanistan while continuing all major missions in the longest war in American history, U.S. officials said, three weeks after President Trump sought options for a more drastic pullout."

"President Trump in a prime-time address Tuesday said a wall along the southern border is key to national security, as he called for lawmakers to fund it and end a partial government shutdown that is days away from becoming the longest in U.S. history."

"White House national security adviser John Bolton traveled to Turkey this week to talk with Turkish officials about working together on President Trump’s plan to quickly withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Instead, he got an earful."

"Afghan Taliban representatives say they have called off two days of peace talks with U.S. officials in Qatar, just hours after they had announced the talks would take place without any delegates from Afghanistan's government. A Taliban representative in Afghanistan had told Reuters early on January 8 that the talks would begin in Qatar's capital, Doha, on January 9."

"Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted a request from national security adviser John Bolton to protect Kurdish fighters in northern Syria and vowed to launch a military offensive to uproot what he described as terrorist forces."

"The document suggests that the Afghan parties may invite the international community to form a small, limited 'Afghanistan Support Team'"

"U.S. forces in Syria have a plan in place for their much talked about withdrawal, but it will likely not see all of them leave the fight against the Islamic State terror group anytime soon."

"President Donald Trump's national security adviser is set to hold talks with Turkish defense and intelligence officials to try and clarify growing questions about U.S. intentions in Syria. John Bolton's visit to Ankara parallels a similar trip to the region by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and follows Trump's abrupt announcement that he was ordering 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria."

"There is nothing new about the U.S. redoubling its efforts in the Middle East after it has lost sight of its objectives. There is even less new about the U.S. going on with the same efforts year-after-year without having any effective strategy. The U.S. has claimed to be fighting a "war" against terrorism since 2001, and has been fighting real wars in the Gulf region since 2003. It has also been blundering in Syria since 2011."

"The Trump administration is weighing using a national emergency declaration to circumvent Congress and the budget stalemate and force construction of the president’s long-promised southern border wall."

"Unlike many Republican wonks in Washington, Trump was never interested in removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. In December, he perfunctorily declared that the Islamic State had been defeated — despite mountains of evidence to the contrary — and said it was largely the responsibility of Turkey and other Arab countries to carry on the fight."

"The planned U.S. troop withdrawal opens up a void in the north and east of Syria, and the conflicts and rivalries among all the powers in the Middle East are converging to fill it."

"The Trump administration won’t withdraw U.S. forces from northern Syria unless Turkey offers a firm commitment not to target America’s Kurdish allies, White House national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday, underscoring the challenges in executing the president’s wishes to put an end to the military campaign."

"Somewhat surprisingly, the policy decision that prompted Mattis’s resignation actually reinforced one civil-military norm: Civilians control the military."

"For America’s top diplomat, it will be a mission like no other: seeking to build a coalition among U.S. allies against Iran, while also defending a potentially historic disengagement of Washington from the Middle East."

After having intervened to save Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from being toppled, swinging the war definitively against the rebels just as his government appeared to be heading for defeat, the Kremlin has become more entrenched in Syria and owns the problem, say analysts.