Trump withdrawing from Middle East to focus on China: Academic

US President Donald Trump is pulling out troops from Syria and ending war in Afghanistan in order to focus on economic negotiations with China, an American writer and academic says.

James Petras, a retired professor who has published on political issues with particular focus on Latin America, the Middle East and imperialism, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Monday.

The US has reportedly evacuated a military base in Syria, the first step towards delivering on Trump’s recent pledge to pull American forces out of the Arab country.

According to local residents of al-Malikiya, in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, some 50 American soldiers had already left the base and traveled to a base in Iraq, along with their armored vehicles and other equipment.

“I think it’s very clear to Trump that he needs to adapt a realistic policy, and the US position in Syria has deteriorated, particularly its attempt to work table on both sides. On the one hand, criticizing and attacking ISIS (Daesh), on other hand working with the groups that are close with ISIS,” Petras said.  

“I think Trump is very concerned about the cost of US involvement both material and ideological and diplomatic. He’s been collaborating with the Kurds. And this has created animosity with the Turks,” he stated.

“For Trump, the Turks are more important than Kurds especially in NATO, especially in looking after US interests in the Middle East,” he noted.  

“So I think the Kurds made a dramatic error in putting their eggs in the basket of the US. And now I think Washington is moving to reduce its presence in Afghanistan, a long war which the US has no chance of winning, and to focus on economic negotiations with China,” he stated.  

“I think one can Trump has taken a stand of negotiations with China, and from our understanding the early phase of the negotiations are moving ahead. It looks like there’s some possibility of an agreement, concessions on the part of China, recognition on the part of the US,” the analyst said.  

“Now the big problem is the Democrats in this country. The so-called liberal party has adopted a very militarist position, opposing the withdrawal from Syria, opposing the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and accusing the Trump administration of undermining its negotiations with China,” he said.

“So you have the intensification of the domestic conflict in the United States. But the fact of the matter is the great majority of the US public is not opposed to the withdrawal from the wars in the Middle East nor is it against China Trump coming some agreement,” he observed.

“So I think the problems domestically in the US, particularly the building of the wall between Mexico and the US has emerged as a major point of conflict and closed down of the government,” the academic said.  

On Monday, Trump defended his decision to withdraw American troops from Syria, saying he is "just doing what I said I was going to do" during his 2016 election campaign.

"... I campaigned on getting out of Syria and other places. Now when I start getting out the Fake News Media, or some failed Generals who were unable to do the job before I arrived, like to complain about me & my tactics, which are working," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"Just doing what I said I was going to do!"

However, Trump asserted that US forces are being sent home “slowly,” adding to the uncertainty about the timetable of an action that has drawn widespread criticism. The US has stationed about 2,000 soldiers in 18 bases across Syria since

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