US troops in Syria to be pulled out 'quickly', says Trump

Trump's remarks came after his National Security Advisor John Bolton told reporters that the US will not bring its troops back unless the Turkish government guarantees that it would not attack the Syrian Kurdish forces.

(Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Sunday said the troop pullout in Syria is happening "quickly". Trump's remarks came after his National Security Advisor John Bolton told reporters that the US will not bring its troops back unless the Turkish government guarantees that it would not attack the Syrian Kurdish forces. Syrian Kurdish forces are backed by the US and are a critical American partners in the fight against ISIS. "It's going quickly," Trump told reporters here when asked how long it will take to pullout troops from Syria. Trump said there was no need for US forces in Syria now that the ISIS has been defeated there. "We've wiped out ISIS in Iraq, we've wiped out ISIS. Iran hates ISIS more than we do if that's possible. Russia hates ISIS more than we do. Turkey hates ISIS, maybe not as much as we do. But these are countries that hate ISIS," he said adding that these countries can now do the fighting themselves. Earlier in the day, Bolton told journalists travelling with him on a trip to Israel that the US wanted a guarantee from Turkey that Kurds in Syria would be protected. "There are objectives that we want to accomplish that condition the withdrawal," he said.