and the pullout of 7,000 from afghanistan. although have been altered several times by the president and his national security team. the senate delivered a rebuke president trump s foreign poll us is agenda. in a 68 to 23 vote, lawmakers advanced a vote that s highly critical of plans to withdrawal troops from syria. it was sponsored by mitch mcconnell, who rarely breaks publicly with the president. the measure warns against a precipitous withdrawal of forces from the two countries. 43 republicans voted in favor of it along with 25 democrats. while the resolution is nonbinding t showcases a public riff between members of the republican party and president trump. president trump continues to defend his decision to pull troops out of syria draw down forces in afghanistan tell iing the new york times, quote, i got elected on saying we re getting out of these endless wars. the trump administration is planning another surge in the number of u.s. troops stations along the southern bord
removing our troops from wars around the world from ending stupid wars, in his words. what he is trying to do is have it both ways, get credit and say i m going to withdrawal troops. it sounds like he is trying to tell people we are slow walking this. our troops will remain there over the longer term. i think it s not clear how it will end. i m not sure our troops will be out of harm s way as soon as donald trump would have us believe. that tweet referring to failed generals. we assume the president is talking about crystal, mattis, in a letter sent with his resignation, possibly general petraeus. let s take a listen to stanley mcchrystal, then talk. if you were asked to join the trump administration, what would you say? i would say no. i think it s important for me to work with people who i think are
departure. we start with the guardrail of the administration. he will leave at the end of february. he tendered his resignation the day after the president revealed his plans to withdrawal troops from syria. his departure shaking washington and creating uncertainty at the pentagon and at military bases around the world. mattis resignation is a rebuke to the president s foreign policy views. mattis using his letter to promote the importance of u.s. alliance and unambiguous approach to russia and china. the last straw was the planned withdrawal from syria. for more, here is barbara starr at the pentagon. reporter: alison and dave, an administration official tells cnn that secretary mattis decided early thursday morning at 7:30 that he needed to go to the white house one more time and meet with president trump and try to convince him not to withdrawal u.s. troops from syria. mattis was very concerned about the fate of the kurdish fighters that the u.s. has backed.
deterrent since then. but now we see three nations joining together, france, great britain, and the united states, sending a strong message. proliferation is what we re really concerned about here. if we re concerned about our national security risk, then this is the reason why the president did this. he was standing on the principle that he told them, if you cross this red line with me, i have to react. and eventually he did. so we re going to have to wait and see how this unfolds because we don t know what russia s reaction is going to be to this. a lot of people are concerned. but bullies are bullies. but we still don t know. well, i find the whole thing perplexing. first of all, just a week after the president announces his intention to withdrawal troops
down two or three years ago. the bottom line is you can t take them all out tomorrow. at this point, the generals on the ground have to be worried about the safety of their troops as we bring our men and women home. as we discussed many times there s forced protection in withdrawal from troops. afghanistan is a huge country. troops spread out throughout the country in the north and south. as you withdrawal troops, you have to make sure the troops that remain are protected by an element of force. i imagine there are plans on the board right now being carried out right now calling for withdrawal. we are going to have troops in afghanistan for the forseeable future for five to ten years. whether it s 10,000 or 15,000, we are going to have a presence in afghanistan. the weight of this war, decades worth of wait, lives, blood, treasure, families being completely disrupted by