Bolton: Syria pullout hinges on Turkey promising not to attack Kurds

President Trump's withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria is dependent on Turkey agreeing to not attack Kurdish forces who have helped fight the Islamic State, according to national security adviser John Bolton.

“There are objectives that we want to accomplish that condition the withdrawal,” Bolton told reporters in Jerusalem on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. “The timetable flows from the policy decisions that we need to implement.”

Bolton's comments publicly confirm the Trump administration's shift in policy to slow down the president's call for an immediate exit of U.S. forces from Syria. Trump's Dec. 19 announcement regarding the 2,000 troops stationed in the country drew bipartisan criticism from lawmakers and led to the resignation of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

The U.S. is likely to remain at the Al Tanf military base in southern Syria using Trump's authority under Article II of the Constitution, Bolton said, adding that another condition for a pullout was eliminating the remnants of ISIS forces in Syria.

“The primary point is we are going to withdraw from northeastern Syria," Bolton said, NBC News reported. "Then there is the Al Tanf garrison, which is still very strategically important in connection with our determination that Iran not achieve this arc of control stretching from Iran through Iraq into Lebanon and into Syria."

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