A number of countries taking part in the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State (ISIS) are slated to announce within weeks that they will fill the space to be created by U.S. ground troops’ withdrawal from Syria, Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, top U.S. envoy to Syria, told Defense News.

“There’s something pending to look forward to. Very pending,” Jeffrey said, falling short of revealing the names of countries, which he said would make their own announcements.

U.S. President Donald Trump in a surprise announcement in December said that the 2,000 U.S. troops deployed largely in north-eastern Syria would begin withdrawing, as he looks to limit American military involvement in the conflict. Ankara and Washington launched talks for a possible safe zone near the Turkish border in northern Syria following Trump’s decision.

By establishing a safe zone in Syria, Ankara aims to clear the region of the predominantly Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) militia, which has so far formed the backbone of anti-ISIS coalition in Syria. Turkey sees the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting inside Turkey for more than 30 years.

Washington’s top Syria policy official earlier this month told Al Monitor that efforts for a safe zone in Syria-Turkey border would not include European countries.

Noting that the United States would “likely be more open” in the upcoming weeks to announcements, Jeffrey said some countries might choose to participate “quietly, and that’s fine by us.”

Jeffrey also said there was hope for the UN-backed Geneva peace process, a day after earlier Acting U.S. Ambassador to the UN Jonathan Cohen told the Security Council that it was time to scrap the effort, Defense News said.

“We are very close to standing up a constitutional committee,” Jeffrey said. “The next step, if resolved, is to have an inaugural ceremony in Geneva and to begin a political process that will represent a dramatic change in the whole Syrian conflict, and I think will begin inexorably moving this conflict away from a potential military solution, which is where Assad’s mind has been up until now.”

The Syrian regime has accepted a suggestion allowing for the appointment of the final six members of a constitutional committee, Asharq Al-Awsat reported this week.

Accordingly, the committee would meet in Geneva to hash out a way forward for the country, which has been in civil war since 2011.