President Trump should thank former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The implosion of his Iran-backed regime handed Trump the perfect setting to make history. During his first 100 days, President Trump should deliver a speech outlining a fresh U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and announcing the withdrawal of American troops from Syria.
The highly visible nature of a troop withdrawal would mark a clean break from the shortcomings of his predecessors. It would also allow President Trump to fulfill campaign promises with clear, concrete action—correcting the complications from his earlier Syria policy and opening the door to a new golden age of American foreign policy. The neoconservatism of the George W. Bush era failed miserably. The liberal-oriented strategies of the Clinton, Obama, and Biden years did not fare much better. Recent attempts at progressive-oriented approaches have proven equally problematic.
The Middle East, in particular, has been central to these difficulties. Prolonged military engagements evolved into “forever wars,” requiring continuous deployments, ballooning budgets, and massive aid packages to peoples with low opinions of the United States. Despite years of sacrifice and spending billions in taxpayer dollars, stable democracies are rare, development is minimal without oil resources, and five countries in the region are failed states. The exorbitant attention we have paid to the region has distracted U.S. officials from China while spoiling relations with long-time regional allies, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Syria exemplifies these challenges. American taxpayers have been bankrolling a war with no clear end and for objectives that do not advance U.S. interests. After defeating ISIS in 2019, 2,000 American soldiers are still in harm’s way, policing the Syrian countryside and assisting with the prison control of ISIS members and their families. Patrolling vast deserts thousands of miles away, however, is not a core U.S. responsibility, especially when European nations closer to the threat could take on that burden. And radical ideologies are best countered by Arab and Muslim countries in the region.
Guarding prisons in Syria is likewise a task more appropriate for the other 86 members of the Global Coalition against ISIS or the de facto Syrian government itself. At the current rate, repatriating ISIS prisoners and families and closing the prisons will take until about 2040.
Moreover, the U.S. troop presence in Syria is straining relations with Turkey, a NATO ally we need to confront both Russia and Iran. Turkey has legitimate concerns about Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Ankara designates them as part of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a terrorist organization. Meanwhile, America’s buffering of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), which aspires to democracy and pluralism, keeps the region dependent on a U.S. military presence. Continued support of the Syrian Kurds is irrational. Like the former Afghan governments in Kabul, the AANES will not survive without American forces.
Syria’s future remains highly uncertain. American troops risk being targeted or caught in the crossfire of a fractured state struggling to reunify, as it has been for 14 years. Lebanon’s tragic past offers a cautionary tale: in 1983, peacekeeping U.S. Marines in Beirut became targets in a multifaceted civil war, suffering heavy casualties and broadening U.S. entanglement in a local conflict before ignominiously withdrawing.
Today, Americans deserve a foreign policy that prioritizes U.S. interests, uses practical methods, pursues realistic objectives, and makes prudent use of taxpayer dollars, personnel, and other resources. Syria is an ideal place to put these principles into action and inaugurate a new chapter in U.S. engagement abroad.
This also presents President Trump with a unique opportunity to pivot from earlier stances. Securing Syrian oil fields was once seen as a short-term measure to keep the Assad regime or extremist groups from exploiting them. However, Assad’s downfall and shifting regional dynamics mean that a far more comprehensive strategy is now possible—one centered on limiting needless U.S. risk and reorienting America’s global priorities.
In 2019, the attempt to reduce the U.S.’s footprint in Syria was met with opposition from top advisers, resulting in only a partial withdrawal. By withdrawing troops at this juncture, President Trump can demonstrate both decisiveness and an ability to adapt to changing realities on the ground.
With Bashar al-Assad gone and Iran further weakened, the United States stands strong and victorious, proving that no tyrant or terrorist enabler can ever outlast American resolve. In the first 100 days, President Trump should capture the opportunity and bring our heroes home in triumph by reminding every nation on Earth that America dictates its own terms.
This would be a moment to celebrate American might, unleashing our unmatched potential and restoring our rightful place as the greatest force for freedom and prosperity the world has ever known. With this withdrawal, President Trump can blaze a new trail—one that reaffirms our unshakeable pride, our unstoppable strength, and our everlasting commitment to putting America first.