US President Donald Trump has called out allied nations for sending "100 soldiers" to Syria or Afghanistan and then expecting him to be thankful for it
In rambling comments made at a cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Trump described Syria as "sand and death" and made disparaging remarks about India, a nation the US, Australia and Japan have been encouraging to join the "Quad" Indo-Pacific security alliance to counter China's growing influence in the region.
Trump used Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an example of a world leader talking up Middle-East contributions that were nowhere near the "billions of dollars" America was spending.
"He's constantly telling me they built a library in Afghanistan," Trump said.
"OK. A library.
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"You know what that is?
"That's like five hours of what we have spent.
"He's very smart and we are supposed to say, 'Oh, thank you for the library'.
"I don't know who is using it in Afghanistan."
Trump suddenly announced last month he was pulling US forces out of Syria and Afghanistan, although he said at the cabinet meeting "we're not getting out tomorrow" but would "over a period of time".
The president encouraged Russia, India, Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to take responsibility for Afghanistan's security because "massively wealthy countries" were using the US to subsidise their own forces.
"A country sends us 200 soldiers to Iraq or sends us 100 soldiers from a big country to Syria or to Afghanistan and then they tell me 100 times, 'Oh, we sent you soldiers, we sent you soldiers'," Trump said.
Tens of thousands of Australian soldiers have served in the Middle East since 2001, with about 800 still deployed in Iraq.
