Trump Declares ISIS ‘100%’ Defeated in Syria. ‘100% Not True,’ Ground Reports Say.

The Pentagon scrambled to catch up with Mr. Trump’s comments and referred questions to the White House. Although it is true that the Islamic State’s control of territory has dwindled to almost nothing over the last year, Defense Department officials have been wary of declaring victory before the Syrian Democratic Forces seizes Baghuz.

Department officials recently said they were close to declaring an end to the caliphate, but also cautioned that a few hurdles remained. As they take back territory from the Islamic State, the American-backed Syrian fighters must also sweep any buildings for suicide attackers and booby traps that have been left behind — a process that can take days.

On Thursday, Syrian Democratic Forces officials said that fighters were about a week away from declaring victory, with the caveat that the delicate situation could change.

In comments that weaved from Afghanistan to Syria to the advice he receives from his generals, Mr. Trump also said the capture of the Islamic State’s territory happened “in a much shorter period of time than it was supposed to be.”

The president was returning home from a stalled summit meeting in Vietnam with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, but said he could not resist leaving his plane to praise the military during a refueling stop at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

Trump administration officials have been moving closer to publicly declaring a total rout of the Islamic State from the land it controls. Two weeks ago, Vice President Mike Pence said at the Munich Security Conference that “we have one mile of territory left to capture.”

He added, “Literally within hours or days, the ISIS caliphate will be no more.”

At the same time, the Trump administration has sent mixed messages about the resources it will commit to defeat the Islamic State in Syria. In December, Mr. Trump announced that he would withdraw all 2,000 American troops from Syria. He has since softened that to allow about 400 troops to remain, half as part of a multinational force dedicated to securing the country’s northeast — an area that is vulnerable to the Islamic State.