Mattis exits over Mideast policy split with Trump
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis announced his resignation the day after President Donald Trump decided to pull US troops out of Syria.
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis resigned Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw 2,200 American troops from Syria.
His resignation, effective at the end of February, removes one of the last remaining senior officials in the US administration with long-held foreign policy experience in the Middle East and elsewhere.
The commander-in-chief said in a tweet that Mattis planned to retire “with distinction” after a replacement had been selected. But in stepping down from his post, Mattis made clear that he could no longer effectively advocate for Trump’s views, after the two men privately clashed for months over the US troop presence in Syria and Afghanistan and US support for the NATO alliance.
“My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues,” Mattis wrote. “You have the right to have a secretary of Defense with views that are better aligned with yours.”
