WELCOME HOME JIM: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis returns to Washington today after a five-day trip to find a host of festering problems waiting for him. Mattis’ last stop was Pakistan, where he pressed civilian and military leaders to “redouble its efforts to confront militants and terrorists operating within the country,” according to a Pentagon statement. Mattis also traveled to Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait.

SYRIA: At the beginning of his trip, Mattis confirmed to reporters traveling with him that the U.S. is in fact planning to stop arming its Kurdish allies in Syria, including the YPG militia that Turkey considers a terrorist group. That was something President Trump promised Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call last week. “We’re going to go exactly along the lines of what the president announced,” Mattis said. “The YPG is armed, and as the coalition stops offensive ops, then, obviously, you don’t need that, you need security — you need police forces.  That’s local forces.” Mattis says with the Islamic State now “collapsing,” the U.S. no longer needs the troops who were the most effective against ISIS. “That fighting is now dropping off, in terms of the need for offensive capability. Consistent with that, we’re changing the composition of our forces to something that supports the diplomats and the Geneva process.”