Trump claims 100% of ISIS territory retaken, contradicting allied commander’s assessment

The president also boasted the alleged progress his administration made in Afghanistan and the middle east in the last two years

President Donald Trump told American troops this week the United States backed forces in Syria took back 100 per cent of the territory once run by the Islamic State, a claim that conflicts with the allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander.

“We just took over, you know, you kept hearing it was 90 percent, 92 percent, the caliphate in Syria. Now it’s 100 per cent we just took over, 100 per cent caliphate,” Mr Trump said on Thursday, while speaking to soldiers at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska during during a refuelling stop for Air Force One.

However, SDF commander Mazloum Kobani said it might be too early to celebrate. He announced that “the complete victory over Daesh (Islamic State) in a week,” in a video released to the press on Thursday.

Mr Trump was at the Alaskan joint base while travelling his way back to Washington from his summit meeting in Vietnam with North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un. During his visit, he told the troops about the progress the Trump administration made in Afghanistan and the greater Middle East since the beginning of his term.

Mr Trump’s comments on regaining complete control of ISIS territory comes a few months after the president announced his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria in December. He claimed that the US succeeded in their mission to defeat ISIS.

His troop withdrawal announcement was met with swift backlash. Mr Trump responded with by leaving behind 400 US troops in Syria for a long-term plan: About 200 troops will stay in the northeast part of the multinational force and another 200 to stay in the southeast to fend off counter Iranian influences.

On February 6, Mr Trump said he would be making a formal announcement to the American people the following week declaring that coalition forces recaptured all territory formerly held by ISIS in Syria. He has not made that announcement yet.