Trump's uncertain Syrian plans could have chaotic implications for fighting terrorism and for the fate of civilians

AMMAN, Jordan - Since President Donald Trump tweeted last month that Islamic State had been defeated in Syria and he would withdraw U.S. forces from the war-torn country, America's allies, enemies and even leading officials in the Trump administration and Congress have sought to divine when and how he would want the withdrawal to happen.

This week, Trump only added to the confusion during a rambling monologue at a Cabinet meeting in which he dismissed Syria as a land of "sand and death" and again provided no definitive answer on when roughly 2,000 U.S. troops and thousands more special operatives and contractors would depart from areas controlled by America's Kurdish allies.

With so many belligerent forces in the vicinity, erasing the U.S. footprint would be a delicate task. Done haphazardly,