Donald Trump has defended his decision to withdraw troops from northeastern Syria, telling conservative activists at a Saturday event that the US has its own borders to guard, apparently implying the one with Mexico, which it should prioritise over everything else.

Axar.az reports citing Sputnik.

"Let them have their borders, but I don't think our soldiers should be there for the next 50 years guarding a border between Turkey and Syria when we can't guard our own borders at home", Trump said in a speech to the Value Voters Summit in Washington, an annual conference of religious conservatives, bringing up his chief 2016 campaign promise.

"Don't forget: they are fighting for their land. They haven't help [sic] us fight for our land", the president said before proceeding: "They're fighting for their land and that's good, but we've helped them"