Outgoing US envoy praises State colleagues working under ‘extremely difficult circumstances’

Brett McGurk, who left the administration this month after President Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria, wished his colleagues the best on Monday, saying they were working “under extremely difficult circumstances.”

“Today was my last day at the State Department,” McGurk, the special envoy to the anti-ISIS military coalition, wrote on Twitter.

{mosads}”I wish my former civilian and military colleagues well as they work under extremely difficult circumstances to protect the interests of our great country,” he wrote. “It was a privilege to serve alongside them.” 

McGurk, who was scheduled to leave his envoy position in February, moved up the timeline of his departure — reportedly in protest over Trump’s plan to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops from fighting ISIS in Syria.

The decision also prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis, who bid farewell on Monday.

McGurk and a number of GOP lawmakers have warned that withdrawal could leave U.S. allies in Syria vulnerable.

“We’re on track now over the coming months to defeat what used to be the physical space that ISIS controlled,” McGurk told CNBC four days before Trump made his withdrawal announcement. “That will not be the end of ISIS.”

In response, Trump has lashed out at McGurk, who first served in the George W. Bush administration and then in the Obama administration.

“For all of the sympathizers out there of Brett McGurk remember, he was the Obama appointee who was responsible for loading up airplanes with 1.8 Billion Dollars in CASH & sending it to Iran as part of the horrific Iran Nuclear Deal (now terminated) approved by Little Bob Corker,” Trump tweeted last week, referring to Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who also criticized the withdrawal.

McGurk previously led a U.S. delegation that negotiated with Iran over the release of Americans detained in the country, which led to a settlement in which the U.S. awarded $1.7 billion to Iran, according to reports.

The settlement took place more than a year after the U.S. and Iran agreed to the nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear program — an Obama-era agreement that Trump withdrew from earlier this year.