On 5 February, the Republican-controlled Senate passed a bill requiring that Donald Trump impose new sanctions on Syria and urging the US president not to withdraw from Syria and Afghanistan.
The vote occurred just hours before Trump's State of the Union Address that clearly indicated that he is sticking to his pull-out promise.
“Great nations do not fight endless wars”, the US president stated.
A few days earlier Trump tweeted: “I inherited a total mess in Syria and Afghanistan, the ‘Endless Wars' of unlimited spending and death. During my campaign I said, very strongly, that these wars must finally end”.
While it is not the first time that the US president has signalled that he would deliver on his election promise, the Republicans have finally decided to openly rebuke Trump.
On 31 January, the Senate voted to endorse Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's amendment challenging President Donald Trump's plans to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan and Syria. The amendment to a bill on the US' Mid-East strategy warns that a “precipitous” withdrawal of US forces from the two countries “could allow terrorists to regroup, destabilize critical regions, and create vacuums that could be filled by Iran or Russia, to the detriment of the United States interests and those of our allies”.
“The situation with lawmakers is not much different and many are passing the buck, and Trump seems like an easy target for both lawmakers and intelligence…
