Another US official quits over Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria

A top United States (US) official in the fight against the militant group Islamic State (IS) has indicated that he is stepping down over the decision by President Donald Trump to pull American troops from Syria, reports say.

According to the reports, Brett McGurk, the US special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat IS, has brought his departure forward from February.

McGurk is an experienced diplomat who was appointed to his current role in 2015 under the Obama administration.

His resignation follows that of Defence Secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday.

General Mattis also opposed the decision to withdraw American troops from Syria and plans to reduce US presence in Afghanistan.

Before Trump's announcement McGurk had insisted that the US would continue working against IS in Syria.

In early December he told reporters: "We want to stay on the ground and make sure that stability can be maintained in these areas."

McGurk, in his resignation letter seen by AP news agency, said that IS militants in Syria were on the run but not yet defeated.

He said that withdrawing US forces from Syria would create the conditions that gave rise to IS.

In an email to staff quoted by the New York Times, the presidential envoy said Trump's decision to pull out troops from Syria "came as a shock and was a complete reversal of policy".

“It left our coalition partners confused and our fighting partners bewildered", he said.

"I ultimately concluded I could not carry out these new instructions and maintain my integrity," he added.

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