US President Trump has agreed to give the military about four months to withdraw the 2,000 United States troops in Syria, administration officials said on Monday.

Trump appears thus backtracking from his abrupt order two weeks ago that the military pull out within 30 days.

Mr. Trump confirmed on Twitter that troops would “slowly” be withdrawn.

In article published in the New York Times, the tweets by Trump are reported. 

“If anybody but Donald Trump did what I did in Syria, which was an ISIS loaded mess when I became President, they would be a national hero,” Mr. Trump wrote. “ISIS is mostly gone, we’re slowly sending our troops back home to be with their families, while at the same time fighting ISIS remnants.”

The NYT said that "for a president who has looked to the military for affirmation throughout his campaign and presidency and boasted about stocking his cabinet with what he called “my generals,” his decision on Dec. 19 to withdraw quickly from Syria was a significant split from his military and civilian advisers."

Indeed, the paper recalled how "the criticism from General McChrystal, who commanded American-led troops in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, echoed longstanding denunciations by former senior intelligence officials, who have warned that Mr. Trump’s approach to national security is reckless."

The announcement by President Trump led to a number of resignations. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was the first. He said that leaving Syria in 30 days would jeopardize the fight against the Islamic State, betray its Syrian Kurdish-Arab allies on the ground, and cede the eastern part of the country to the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies.

The NYT recalled that "military planners say they need about 120 days, or four months, to carry out a withdrawal that allows time to decide which equipment to move elsewhere in the region, leave behind with allies or disable to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Syrian government or Russia or Iran."

When Mr. Trump first ordered a drawdown within 30 days, writes the NYT "his position provoked an outcry, including from some of his political allies like Mr. Graham, who said that such a hasty withdrawal would leave exposed American partners such as the Kurds, who are concerned about a possible attack from Turkey. But after lunch with Mr. Trump at the White House on Sunday, Mr. Graham said he felt “a lot better” about the president’s plans."

With most of his top advisers on vacation or having left the White House for good, the NYT said that "Mr. Trump spent the weekend talking to allies and watching cable news coverage of the partial government shutdown."

There are still important events to take place in the next few days: one is the trilateral meeting among Russia, Turkey and Iran which should happened before the bilateral meeting between Turkey and the United States.