Meanwhile, Mattis headed back to the Pentagon, where he told his senior staff and the Joint Chiefs of his decision. Along with keeping troops in Syria, Mattis had been struggling to convince Trump to keep troops in Afghanistan, too. He acquiesced once, appearing on CBS's Face the Nation in May after Trump personally asked him to, a former defense official said. That was particularly obvious the day Trump introduced Mattis as his defense secretary during a victory rally with his supporters in December 2016. It was a lesson Mattis frequently sought to impart to Trump, whether he was explaining the importance of the US maintaining military bases around the world or urging Trump not to denigrate the NATO military alliance.

Source: CNN December 21, 2018 15:01 UTC