US Senate rebukes Trump over Syria, Afghanistan troop withdrawals

Washington, DC – The US Senate voted to advance an amendment seeking to rein in President Donald Trump’s announced withdrawal of American special forces from Syria and put parameters around plans to reduce the number of US forces in Afghanistan.

The 68-23 vote came on a procedural matter clearing the way for an amendment on Syria and Afghanistan troop levels by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican.

McConnell is seeking to add the resolution to a pending measure on Middle East security policy that has broad bipartisan support.

Thursday’s vote serves notice to the White House that senior Republican leaders want a reversal of Trump’s order to withdraw US special forces from Syria and a check on future plans to withdraw troops in Afghanistan.

“I think the president is slowing down in Syria and he is taking the opportunity to see if we can get a new structure in Afghanistan, if we can get a peace agreement,” Senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, told Al Jazeera.

The resolution calls on the Trump administration to “conduct a review of the military and diplomatic strategies in Syria and Afghanistan” and to “set conditions” for the long-term defeat of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

It also calls on Trump to “certify” that those conditions have been met “before initiating any significant withdrawal”. 

Last month, Trump announced he was withdrawing some 2,000 US troops from Syria, declaring ISIL had been “defeated”. 

He has since backtracked on his initial order of a rapid withdrawal with US officials announcing that no timetable had been set. 

This week, US intelligence chiefs said that the ISIL remained a threat. 

Hurdles ahead

Trump has also ordered the military to come up with plans to withdraw about 7,000 or up to half of the US troops in Afghanistan. 

After six days of talks in Qatar last week, US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said the United States and the Taliban had reportedly reached a rough framework for peace talks between the US-backed government in Kabul and the Taliban. 

Major hurdles remain, however, including terms on a ceasefire and the withdrawal of foreign forces.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a televised address on January 28 that all foreign forces would eventually leave Afghanistan once they were no longer needed.

The resolution voted by the Senate on Thursday specifically acknowledged “progress made by” Khalilzad and offered support for diplomatic efforts.

The non-binding amendment would encourage Congress and the White House to work together to develop long-term strategies in Afghanistan and Syria. 

It also says that a hasty withdrawal in both countries could “allow terrorists to regroup, destabilise critical regions and create vacuums that could be filled by Iran or Russia”. 

Trump’s withdrawal announcements were “being used against us right now,” said Republican Senator Marco Rubio, as he took to the Senate floor to argue in favour of the amendment. “This is a very dangerous situation. That’s why this [troop withdrawals] is a very bad idea.” 

Although the amendment enjoys bipartisan support, a number of more liberal politicians – some hoping to seek a 2020 presidential bid – voted against the measure on Thursday.

“What McConnell is saying is let’s maintain the status quo,” said independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who also acknowledged that he believed Trump made the announcements too abruptly. 

A final vote on the amendment could come next week. If it advances, it would be added to a broader foreign policy bill that includes a measure to “combat” boycotts of Israel. 

That measure, titled the “Combatting BDS Act”, is opposed by rights groups and some Democrats who say it infringes on free speech. BDS stands for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Read More



from Trend News Web http://bit.ly/2UvVFp6

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Allred: Tape appears to show R. Kelly sexually abusing girls

A man who said he was cleaning out an old videotape collection found what he thought was a recording of R&B singer R. Kelly in concert, but instead turned out to show a man who appeared to be Kelly sexually abusing girls, he and his attorney said Sunday. The man then turned the tape over to law enforcement, according to attorney Gloria Allred. She and her client, Gary Dennis, would not discuss the specifics of the tape during a news conference in New York. But Allred said it appears to show a separate incident from the 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse that Kelly faces in Chicago, though she acknowledged she could not be “100 percent certain” that the man in the tape is Kelly. Steve Greenberg, an attorney for Kelly, noted that lack of certainty. “The doubt here is self-evident, with reporting that the man on the tape kinda, sorta looks like R. Kelly,” Greenberg said Sunday in an email. “That doesn’t make it him. It is not him.” The lawyer also said Kelly “denies that he is
Read more

Ranking Every No. 1 NBA Draft Pick from the Last 30 Years

Image
Gary Dineen/Getty Images 15. Larry Johnson, Charlotte Hornets, 1991 Johnson, an athletic marvel, came into the league with incalculable potential. He was Rookie of the Year in 1992, made the All-Star team in his second season and signed a 12-year, $84 million contract in 1993 that was the   largest   in league history at the time. Back problems sapped his bounce, but Johnson developed skills to compensate. The power forward shot 38.6 percent from deep and averaged 18.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 1994-95 while making his second All-Star team. He was just as good the next year, posting averages of 20.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists. Though decline set in following his move to the Knicks in 1996, Johnson was an effective player for the balance of his 10-year career. He ranks   10th   among No. 1 picks in the last 30 years with 69.7 win shares.          14. John Wall , Washington Wizards, 2010 Wall’s average of 9.2 assists is tops on our list, and his 1.7 ste
Read more

Attacks and bodyguards: The price of being a Colombian journalist

Image
Caucasia, Colombia – Leiderman Ortiz’s mother, sister, brother and nephew were visiting him in Caucasia in May 2010 when a loud blast went off outside the house where they were asleep. “I jumped out of my bed and started shouting, ‘Stay down, don’t move’,” Ortiz said. “My poor mother was screaming. She was terrified.” Unlike many others who have been targeted by the regular grenade attacks in Caucasia, a small city about 670km north of the Colombian capital Bogota, Ortiz isn’t a criminal. He writes about them. And the 2010 attack was the third of at least five known attempts or suspected attempts on the 45-year-old’s life. The first occurred in 2009 in Medellin when he was leaving an office and an armed individual was waiting for him. Ortiz saw the individual and called the police. The next year, the 2010 grenade attack occurred. Two days after that attack, another grenade was thrown into his garden. The following year, at least two suspected hitmen were paid to follow Ortiz, but
Read more