President Donald Trump will reportedly give the military more time to pull U.S. troops out of Syria.
Anonymous officials told The New York Times Monday Trump agreed to slow his timeline for troop withdrawal from Syria to about four months. Trump himself described the withdrawal as slow on Twitter Monday, but didn't give a timeline.
Trump initially ordered the Pentagon to remove all American forces within 30 days, drawing opposition from key advisers and allies like
former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
and
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham
.
Trump's controversial decision allegedly prompted Mattis to tender his resignation last month. And Graham said the move would be "a huge Obama-like mistake."
But, as the Times notes, it's unclear exactly when the troop withdrawal will actually happen. Officials refused to divulge the exact timing due to security reasons. And they said Trump could switch gears and decide to speed up the removal process at any time.
According to recent estimates, there are about 2,000 U.S. troops currently stationed in Syria.
