A threat of withdrawal from West Asia

Big changes have affected the United States Department of Defense in the wake of the defeat of Donald Trump in the presidential elections, to the point that some began to speak of a coup that had been planned for months to overthrow some of the leaders. of the “Pentagon”, in order to give way to the control of the President of the United States over the military institution, at the initiative of Directing some policies before the end of his time in the White House. The changes coincided with the appointments of Mullen officials to Trump to senior positions in the ministry, and renewed talks about the US administration’s intention to withdraw from the region. And if the last step is, in practice, difficult to achieve, given the lack of time and large-scale bureaucracy in the “Pentagon,” it will hamper, if it occurs, the plans of the Democratic Administration to redistribute US forces in the United States. region, after the reasons for their presence have already been removed.

A few weeks after the outgoing US President Donald Trump leaves the White House, his administration is working to renew the narrative of withdrawal from the region. The job coincided with the big changes that took place at the head of the “Pentagon” and high-ranking leaders in it, to be replaced by others who owed more loyalty to Trump and his policies. Is it a coup, a push for withdrawal, or just a reckoning? The changes, and if the acting Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller, placed them in the context of accelerating the process of withdrawal from the region, comes at a supposedly transitional stage, where the room for maneuver becomes dependent on time, and Time – as well as the bureaucracy – does not allow the withdrawal of thousands of soldiers with their equipment, for the sake of a goal. One of his titles is to shame the new democratic administration that wants to stay in the region at any cost.
“It’s time to go home.” With these words, Christopher Miller addressed the US military, expressing his determination to accelerate the withdrawal of his country’s soldiers from Afghanistan and the Middle East. “Many are tired of war, and I am one of them,” he wrote in a message the day before yesterday, echoing what Trump has said repeatedly: “All wars must end.” The question of “accelerating the withdrawal” is no longer in the orbit of speculation; The changes brought about by the president of the United States in the “Pentagon” seem, in part, to be directed towards the previous objective. The move to oust former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and the ensuing wave of resignations and layoffs, paralleled by Trump’s appointment of close associates who owe allegiance to top civilian positions at the ministry, raised observers’ fears about the possibility. to politicize the military establishment.

Jeffrey revealed that he had hidden from Trump the true level of US military presence in Syria

A day after Esper was fired early last week, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James Anderson, Under Secretary for Intelligence Joseph Kiernan and Chief of Staff Jennifer Stewart resigned. “The Intercept” revealed that Mark Tomb, deputy chief of staff for the Undersecretary of Defense for Political Affairs, was also forced to resign, while the most recent resignation came on Thursday, with the resignation of “Pentagon” deputy chief of staff Alexis Ross. . These leaks have given way to figures considered more dedicated to protecting Trump and implementing his policies, to fill key positions in the ministry. Andersen was replaced by his deputy, Anthony Tata, while Stewart was replaced by Cash Patel, a former National Security Council official who worked as an aide to California Republican Representative Devin Nunes (a loyal Trump loyalist). Kiernan is replaced by Ezra Cohen-Watnik, a former assistant to former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Additionally, former Land Corps Colonel Douglas McGregor has been appointed to the position of Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense. McGregor is a strong supporter of withdrawing from Afghanistan, regardless of the circumstances on the ground. He considers that “the date of our departure will not change anything. Everything will collapse. But the good news is that when we leave at least, we will no longer support corruption and the world’s largest heroin producer. ” In an interview with “Fox News” in 2019, he confirmed that he would advise the president to leave Afghanistan “as soon as possible”, close the US embassy in Kabul and suspend talks with the “Taliban” because they are “unnecessary”. His position also applies to the American role in Syria. He considers that the withdrawal of US forces from this country is necessary due to “the absence of US interests.” And he believes that his country “needs to listen very carefully to the Iranians … to find out what their interests are and to look for areas where we can cooperate.” Trump set withdrawal from the region as a goal in his campaign for the 2016 elections, and for four years he reiterated his intention to advance his plan, for which he replaced his defense ministers, in particular James Mattis, who later resigned. for the president to announce his plan to withdraw from Syria. A reduction in the number of troops and a redeployment were announced, but no serious withdrawal was included in the plans of the Ministry of Defense. This was confirmed by the special envoy of the US administration in Syria, James Jeffrey, before leaving his post; He revealed, in an interview with “Defense One”, that his team withheld from the White House the true level of the US military presence in Syria. He said: “We have always played a game of cups and a ball (a game of cheating) so it is not clear to our leadership how much strength we have there.” The diplomat admitted that the actual number of US forces in northeastern Syria is “much higher” than 200 soldiers and Trump agreed to keep them there, adding: “What withdrawal are you talking about? There was no withdrawal from Syria.”
The wave of mass exodus from the “Pentagon,” which took place last Tuesday, was planned for months, according to a Trump administration official who spoke to the Intercept website. He released a list of the names of other Pentagon officials whose firing is still under consideration, noting that he follows Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisitions and support. “The president retakes control of the Ministry of Defense. It is a new birth of foreign policy, ”according to this official, who believes that the changes will help pave the way for the birth of a more loyal apparatus to implement Trump’s objectives, the most important of which is the withdrawal of the American forces of foreign conflicts. In the same context, Dexter Felkins quoted in a New Yorker magazine report about an administration official who regularly meets with Trump, saying that the outgoing president is determined to return the remaining 4,500 US forces in Afghanistan, or at least the as much as possible before leaving office. . “He wants to put us on an irreversible path towards a complete withdrawal,” the official said.
There are those who claim that the extensive bureaucracy in the “Pentagon” and the hierarchy of military leadership make any radical change difficult in less than 70 days. Mark Cancian, a former defense official who works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says Trump won’t do much, but trying to get some soldiers out of Afghanistan is not impossible, but the military “can slow his advance.” Behind all these plans, the outgoing US president seeks to create “explosive” political conditions for the Biden administration, it seems. Like any redeployment of retreating US forces it would establish the idea that the Democratic Party is the godfather of “eternal wars,” while Trump may, perhaps, honestly claim that he is not only the first president to avoid a war. in 40 years. The first to end the occupation of Afghanistan.

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