Trump's evolving foreign policy challenges top US diplomat

RIYADH (AP):

If Mike Pompeo was surprised, he didn't show it. But the secretary of state had woken up in the capital of Saudi Arabia on Monday to find that President Donald Trump had tweeted a threat to NATO ally Turkey, warning of economic harm should the Turks attack US-backed rebel forces in Syria.

On the second-to-last stop of a Mideast tour dominated by questions and concerns from Arab leaders about Trump's abrupt order to withdraw American troops from Syria, Pompeo had to refer reporters' questions about the tweet to the White House. He said he assumed Trump was referring to the possibility of economic sanctions on Turkey if the Kurds were hit. But he couldn't speak definitively to the matter.

"We apply sanctions in many places around the world," Pompeo said, attempting to clarify Trump's threat. "I assume he's speaking about those kinds of things, but you would have to ask him."

FREQUENT, IMPULSIVE TWEETS

The scene at the news conference at the Riyadh airport played out amid what have become frequent unpleasant surprises for Trump administration officials trying to explain the policies of a president who often issues seemingly impulsive tweets and makes off-the-cuff comments that can disrupt the normal course of diplomacy.

Pompeo had not yet spoken to Turkish officials about Trump's vow to "devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds" as he spoke to reporters.

"I haven't had a chance to have any conversations with the Turks as of yet since the president's tweets went out, but I will. I'm sure I will talk to them before too long," said Pompeo, who had just come from meetings with Saudi Arabia's king and crown prince that focused on the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Just two days earlier, Pompeo had expressed confidence after a lengthy conversation with his Turkish counterpart that the US and the Turks would reach an agreement to protect America's Kurdish partners in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) after US troops leave Syria. Trump's tweet threat appeared to throw such confidence into doubt.

The president has repeatedly wreaked havoc with diplomacy, whether from the Syria withdrawal order and subsequent confusion over timing to suggestions that the American military presence in Afghanistan may be significantly reduced. He has also done it with comments throwing into question the US commitment to NATO and about the pace and progress of trade talks with China.

The Syria order was too much for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the special envoy for the anti-IS coalition, Brett McGurk, both of whom quit as a result. But they left on their own terms. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was several times blindsided by Trump tweets conflicting with his efforts, was fired via social media last year.

Others, like Pompeo, have gamely played on, joining Trump in accusing the media of inventing internal policy contradictions in the face of clear discord, or at least confusion.

Pompeo's eight-nation Mideast mission was aimed at reassuring America's Arab partners that the Syria withdrawal doesn't mean the Trump administration is abandoning the region, giving up the fight against the Islamic State or scaling back its determination to counter threats posed by Iran.