Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to the Middle East this week with the goal of reassuring allies of the United States' commitment to the region amid confusion over President Donald Trump's foreign policy, but will also during a speech in Cairo take the opportunity to criticize former President Barack Obama's Middle East vision, sources have told Politico.
Pompeo will "slam Obama's engagement with Iran . . . while asserting that President Donald Trump has the region's best interests at heart," according to Politico.
Trump in December declared ISIS had been defeated and "our boys, our young women, our men – they're all coming back, and they're coming back now."
The Pentagon said the full withdrawal would be completed in 30 days, a timeline Trump backtracked on after his decision came under widespread criticism.
Last week, Pompeo told Newsmax that U.S. troops are "going to come out" of Syria and Trump remained committed to ensuring "stability throughout the Middle East."
"The president also made very clear that we needed to continue the counter-ISIS campaign," he told Newsmax TV host John Bachman. "We needed to continue to ensure that we did the things needed to create stability throughout the Middle East."
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