But the United States still has 14,000 troops in Afghanistan and about 2,000 in Syria. Mr. Trump’s trip came at a sensitive moment, as the president’s clash with Mr. Mattis over the troop withdrawals opened a rift between the commander in chief and the military. Over the weekend, Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, accelerated his resignation, telling colleagues that he could not in good conscience carry out Mr. Trump’s newly declared policy of withdrawing American troops from Syria. On Christmas, Mr. Trump and Melania Trump, the first lady, made calls from the West Wing to troops stationed abroad, though he was criticized in the media for being the first president since 2002 not to visit troops or wounded warriors on the holiday. Mr. Trump says he has “done more for the military” than many of his recent predecessors but had not made visiting active duty military personnel a priority.

Source: New York Times December 26, 2018 19:18 UTC