Acting Pentagon chief says Syria withdrawal on track, despite uncertainty

The U.S. military is on track to withdraw all of its ground troops from Syria, notwithstanding that the final battle to liberate the country from ISIS is still raging and there is not yet a plan to protect America’s Kurdish allies once the U.S. departs, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters traveling with him.

Shanahan arrived in Brussels Tuesday, ahead of two days of meetings at NATO headquarters, at which Shanahan will press U.S. allies to provide troops for a protection force to patrol a buffer zone in northeastern Syria, where U.S.-backed forces, including Kurdish militia, have been eliminating ISIS strongholds.