AL-ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq (AP) — President Donald Trump is defending his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria where they have been helping battle militants from the Islamic State group.

While visiting troops in western Iraq on Wednesday, Trump said that because of the military’s gains against the militant group, U.S. forces can return home to their families.

Trump spoke at al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq to American servicemen and women wearing fatigues.

It was a little chilly and several wore knit hats.

Trump said the U.S. mission in Syria was to strip IS of its military strongholds — not to be a nation-builder.

He says that’s a job that should be shouldered by other rich nations.

The president said the U.S. presence in Syria was never to be “open-ended,” and that Turkey has agreed to eliminate remnants of IS still remaining in the country.

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