Corker: Trump making ‘devastating’ decisions on foreign policy

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) says President Trump is making “devastating” decisions in Syria and Afghanistan by withdrawing U.S. troops from those volatile regions.

“Some devastating decisions are being made even with people giving strong input in the opposite direction. I don’t know what to say about it,” Corker said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

{mosads}“Now we’re into something that is incredibly sober as it relates to Syria and possibly Afghanistan,” he said. “Somehow or another I hope that the president will see fit to make some decisions here that are not ultimately devastating to our country.”

Corker is one of many Republican lawmakers who strongly oppose Trump’s decision to withdraw 2,000 troops from Syria, an announcement that caught them by surprise last Wednesday and led to the announced resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Corker acknowledged that U.S. troops were going to leave Syria “at some point” but he has questioned the timing of the call, which comes shortly before they were to help with a major clearing operation of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in the region.

“I do not understand, I have no understanding of why we did what we did in Syria. It just totally boggles any sane thinking that could take place,” he said on Sunday.

Trump made the decision against the advice of his top military advisers but the president felt the military mission has been accomplished.

The president declared on Twitter: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”

Trump has also ordered the Defense Department to withdraw about half of the 14,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan.

Corker conceded that U.S. forces have been in Afghanistan for 17 years and policymakers have made mistakes but he called Trump’s decision “precipitous.”