INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Donald Trump has ordered a slowdown on withdrawal of US forces from Syria, according to Republican senator Lindsey Graham.Senator Graham
made announcement - which hasn't been confirmed by Trump administration - following lunch with president in White House.The president
had seemingly shocked everyone - from Congress and Pentagon, through to America's allies and enemies around world - when he announced that
US troops were to pull out of Syria.The announcement was directly followed by resignation of defence secretary Jim Mattis, whose
resignation letter criticised Mr Trump's foreign policies and his treatment of military allies.The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, said move had "dangerous implications" for stability, would "negatively affect
campaign against terrorism", and create "a political and military vacuum".The announcement was also addressed by British defence minister
Tobias Ellwood, who said he "strongly disagreed" with American leader, adding that Islamic State had "morphed into or forms of extremism
and threat is very much alive".Mr Graham had initially criticised president's decision, but after White House lunch struck a more
conciliatory tone, saying: "I think we're slowing things down in a smart way."He had told CNN's State Of The Union show about his arguments
before speaking to president."I'm going to ask him to sit down with his generals and reconsider how to do this
Make sure that we get it right
Make sure ISIS never comes back
Don't turn Syria over to Iranians
That's a nightmare for Israel."And, at end of day, if we leave Kurds and abandon m and y get slaughtered, who's going to help you in
future"I want to fight war in enemy's backyard, not ours
That's why we need a forward-deployed force in Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan for a while to come."