U.S. asks anti-ISIL allies to secure Syria after its pullout

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Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan struggled on Friday to convince skeptical allies in the coalition fighting ISIL to help secure Syria once American soldiers pull out.

While one day after Shanahan's remarks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Saturday that Washington's plan to swiftly pull its soldiers out of Syria risks allowing Russia and Iran to boost their role in the region.

"Is it a good idea for the Americans to suddenly and quickly withdraw from Syria? Or will it once more strengthen the capacity of Iran and Russia to exert their influence?" Merkel said at the Munich Security Conference.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence vowed the same day that the United States would "hunt down" the ISIL group even after pulling its troops out of Syria, where the jihadists are facing the loss of their final scrap of land.

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U.S. President Donald Trump also said earlier his country would announce the end of the ISIL group's once-sprawling "caliphate" within 24 hours, with U.S.-led Arab and Kurdish forces close to capturing the last ISIL territorial holdout in Syria.

As the end neared for the proto-state that once controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria, 13 defense ministers of the anti-ISIL coalition met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Shanahan, the U.S. acting defense secretary, pledged ongoing backing for the fight - but kept allies guessing as to how that would be achieved once U.S. forces pull out, and won no solid pledges of support.

"While the time for U.S. troops on the ground in northeast Syria winds down, the United States remains committed to our coalition's cause: the permanent defeat of ISIL, both in the Middle East and beyond."

Shanahan pledged that the U.S. would "maintain our counterterrorism capabilities in the region" and "continue to support our local partners' ability to stand up to the remnants of ISIL" - but gave no details about how this would be done.

'In together, out together'

ISIL fighters have been boxed into an area of around one square kilometer in the last battle over the militants' remaining patch of territory in northeastern Syria.

Once they are defeated, U.S. troops are set to withdraw from Kurdish-controlled areas after Trump in December announced the pullout of around 2,000 U.S. troops.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said the U.S. had told coalition partners its soldiers would leave in "weeks rather than months."

The decision has stunned allies including France, which contributes artillery and about 1,200 forces in the region, including soldiers who train Iraqi troops.

"It is totally out of the question to have French troops on the ground without the Americans there," one French government source said. "It's just no."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian asked in a Munich conference panel why the U.S. would create a vacuum in Syria that could benefit its enemy Iran, calling the approach a "mystery."

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, whose country has helped with surveillance flights and logistical support, stressed that the idea of the anti-ISIL mission should be "in together, out together."

A senior U.S. defense official said that none of the allies had made any "specific commitment ... either whether they would stay or (whether) they would leave when we have left."

There was "a tremendous desire to have a security arrangement or mechanism," the official said, but conceded that no concrete solution had been found to "resolve the security vacuum."

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters