Trump says US troops are 'coming home', his defence chief says otherwise...

Trump nonetheless tweeted over the weekend: "USA soldiers are not in combat or ceasefire zones. We have secured the Oil. Bringing soldiers home!"

The troops aren't going home and the United States isn't leaving the Middle East, according to current plans outlined by Esper before he arrived in Afghanistan on Sunday. The fight in Syria against IS, once spearheaded by American allied Syrian Kurds who have been cast aside by Trump, will be undertaken by US forces, possibly from neighbouring Iraq.

Esper did not rule out the idea that US forces would conduct counterterrorism missions from Iraq into Syria. But he told reporters traveling with him that those details will be worked out over time.

'Time to come home'

The Republican president declared this past week that Washington had no stake in defending the Kurdish fighters who died by the thousands as America's partners fighting in Syria against IS militants. Turkey conducted a weeklong offensive into northeastern Syria against the Kurdish fighters before a military pause.

"It's time for us to come home," Trump said, defending his removal of US troops from that part of Syria and praising his decision to send more troops and military equipment to Saudi Arabia to help the kingdom defend against Iran.

Esper's comments to reporters traveling with him were the first to specifically lay out where American troops will go as they shift from Syria and what the counter-IS fight could look like. Esper said he has spoken to his Iraqi counterpart about the plan to shift about 1,000 troops from Syria into western Iraq.

Trump's top aide, asked about the fact that the troops were not coming home as the president claimed they would, said, "Well, they will eventually."

Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News Sunday that "the quickest way to get them out of danger was to get them into Iraq."

As Esper left Washington on Saturday, US troops were continuing to pull out of northern Syria after Turkey's invasion into the border region. Reports of sporadic clashes continued between Turkish-backed fighters and the Syria Kurdish forces despite a five-day cease-fire agreement hammered out Thursday between US and Turkish leaders.

The Turkish military's death toll has risen to seven soldiers since it launched its offensive on October 9.

Trump ordered the bulk of the approximately 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria to withdraw after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear in a phone call that his forces were about to invade Syria to push back Kurdish forces that Turkey considers terrorists.

The pullout largely abandons America's Kurdish allies who have fought IS alongside US troops for several years. Between 200 and 300 US troops will remain at the southern Syrian outpost of Al-Tanf.

Follow us on Twitter: @The_NewArab