The president said the "primary mission" for keeping a military presence in the country is the defeat of the Islamic State. Given that task was "almost completed," President Donald Trump argued, his administration would look to make a final decision on the status of U.S. troops in the region "very quickly." Trump: ‘I want to get out’ of Syria

President Donald Trump on Tuesday again voiced support for pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, saying his administration would make a decision on the matter “very quickly.”

“I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home,” the president said during a multilateral news conference with the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.


He added: “Sometimes it’s time to come back home. And we’re thinking about that very seriously.”

The president said the “primary mission” for keeping a military presence in the country, which remains besieged by a multifaceted war, was the defeat of the Islamic State. Given that this task is “almost completed,” Trump said, his administration will look to make a final decision on the status of U.S. troops in the region “very quickly.”

In his remarks, the president also turned up the pressure on Saudi Arabia, suggesting that if the kingdom wanted the U.S. to keep military forces on the ground in Syria, it would have to share the financial burden.

“Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision,” Trump said. “And I said, Well, you know, you want us to stay? Maybe you’re going to have to pay.”

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The president took a softer tone on Syria in recent direct communications with Saudi leaders. A White House readout of his March 20 meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman made no mention of U.S. military efforts in the region.

A readout of Trump’s call with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Monday said the two leaders “discussed joint efforts to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and counter Iranian efforts to exploit the Syrian conflict to pursue its destabilizing regional ambitions.” The White House statement of the call, released on Tuesday, did not mention any discussion about Saudi Arabia’s boosting funding for U.S. military efforts in Syria.

The president appeared to undercut top officials in his own administration last week when he predicted the end of military operations in the region.

“We’re knocking the hell out of ISIS,” he said during an event in Ohio. “We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now.”

The remarks stood in contrast to the rhetoric on Syria from other top U.S. officials, who have maintained that American troops must continue to have a presence in the region.

Brett McGurk, a top State Department official, struck a tone different from Trump’s on Tuesday, framing the battle against the Islamic State as unfinished business.

“We are in Syria to defeat ISIS. That is our mission,” McGurk, the U.S. special envoy for the global coalition against the jihadist terrorists, said during an event. “Our mission isn’t over yet, and we are going to complete our mission.”

Wesley Morgan contributed to this report.

