CNN national security analyst Samantha Vinograd on Wednesday slammed President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to begin immediately and rapidly withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, saying the president's claim of victory over ISIS masked what was really going on -- a surrender not only to Russia and other powers vying for the territory, but to ISIS itself.
"I would not call this withdrawal, I would call this a surrender," Vinograd said. "The president's decision is surrendering obviously to Russian, Iranian, Turkish, and Assad's own designs in Syria. But it's also surrendering to the very strong likelihood that ISIS or other terrorist groups will be resurgent in Syria based upon his decision."
Vinograd, who worked on the National Security Council as the Director for Iraq, shared her experiences in troop reviews in that war torn country.
"History is often a lesson in those discussions," she said. "We know for a fact from other theaters that defeating terrorists on the battlefield is just step one as part of a counter-terrorism strategy."
Host Pamela Brown agreed, quoting U.S. Special Envoy to Defeat ISIS Bret McGurk, who warned "the defeat of a group like this means you can't just defeat their physical space and then leave."
Watch the video below.
