WASHINGTON — The United States' top uniformed officer would not rule out the future use of ground troops in Syria, saying only that the Pentagon will provide "a full range of options" for President Donald Trump to consider in the fight against the Islamic State group.
Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spent much of an hourlong appearance at the Brookings Institution on Thursday avoiding giving specifics about a 30-day review, ordered by Trump, into how the fight against ISIS is being formulated.
"I think it is fair to say that we will provide a full range of options," Dunford said to repeated questions. Given an opportunity to directly rule out the use of ground forces in Syria, Dunford repeated the assertion that the goal of the review would be to offer Trump as many "options" as possible.
Shortly after taking office, Trump issued a directive ordering the Pentagon to conduct a 30-day review of the fight against ISIS in order to "accelerate" the campaign against the extremist group.
During his appearance, Dunford said that review is including input from partners at the State and Treasury departments and the intelligence community, and that it would also be looking at challenging other groups labeled as terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida.
In February, it was reported the Pentagon was looking into options for sending conventional ground forces into Syria, and an early draft of an executive order written shortly after the president took office showed that the administration was considering using U.S. forces to create safe zones in Syria.
While that language was removed in the final version of the executive order, some estimates have said a troop presence of 30,000 could be needed for that mission.
Throughout his appearance, Dunford emphasized the complexity of the situation in Syria, at one point noting that "the only people with simple solutions to complex problems are refugees from accountability."
Every choice made by Trump "will have second and third effects," Dunford added. As an example, he pointed out that efforts to maintain a strong alliance with Turkey may impact the relationship with Kurdish forces on the ground. And at the end of the day, the Pentagon will seek to lay all that out for Trump, who, in a throwback to President George W. Bush, Dunford called the ultimate "decider."
"At the end of the day, we cannot be paralyzed by tough choices," Dunford said. "We have to frame those choices to the president and articulate the consequences of those choices and give him the chance to select one of those."
Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.
