President Donald Trump has pulled tens of millions of dollars of American taxpayer-funded aid out of northwest Syria where the Islamic State (ISIS) has been decimated, according to news reports.
On Friday evening, State Department officials confirmed to CBS News that Trump had followed through on his commitment to ending frivolous spending efforts in regions abroad where the U.S. does not have a vital national security interest.
The report concludes that the Trump administration has been in the process of ending all U.S. aid to the northwest region of Syria, where tens of millions of American tax dollars were being spent on a variety of programs.
CBS News’s Kylie Atwood reports:
The decision, made through an inter-agency process over the last few weeks, will mean that tens of millions of dollars will be cut off from previous U.S.-backed efforts to strengthen and stabilize the local society. Projects included countering violent extremism, supporting independent society and independent media, strengthening education, and advocating for community policing. The region will become the first area of the country where, other than humanitarian aid, the U.S. is officially disengaging. [Emphasis added]
The State Department told CBS News about “$200 million of stabilization assistance for Syria is currently under review at the request of the President.”
The millions being spent in northwest Syria have been cut off, the report states, as the Trump administration focuses more on defeating ISIS, rather than stabilizing foreign nations.
As Breitbart News’s Edwin Mora reported last year, the so-called ISIS caliphate that once took hold in Syria has largely been destroyed under the Trump administration.
Last month, Trump hinted at a national security plan that followed through on his commitment to fight foreign interventionism, Breitbart News reported.
“I want to get out [of Syria]. I want to bring our troops back home,” Trump said. “I want to start rebuilding our nation. We will have, as of three months ago, $7 trillion in the Middle East the last seven years. We get nothing out of it, nothing.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.