Trump spoke to about 100 primarily special forces personnel and separately with military leaders before leaving three hours later. A planned meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi was scrapped and replaced by a telephone call, Abdel Mahdi’s office said. During the call, Trump invited Abdel Mahdi to visit Washington and he accepted, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. Speculation had been mounting that Trump would finally make the gesture following his controversial plan to slash troop levels in Afghanistan and his order to withdraw entirely from Syria. At the base, Trump sought to defend his “America first” policy of pulling back from multinational alliances.

Source: Taipei Times December 27, 2018 15:56 UTC