Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has suggested that American troops should leave the country's troubled south.
Duterte said that the existence of U.S. troops in the island of Mindanao is causing the situation to get worse. He suggested that the American troops must leave the troubled region.
"The US Special Forces, they have to go. They have to leave Mindanao. There are many (Americans) there. I just could not say it at the ASEAN summit in Laos because I don't want a rift with America," Duterte said during an official ceremony at Presidential Palace in Manila. "The situation in Mindanao will be more volatile. If they are seen there, they will really be killed."
Duterte holds the U.S. responsible for the rise of Islamic terrorist groups in the Mindanao, which is the second largest island in the Philippines. He said American soldiers are one of the top target of the Islamic extremists in the region.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella on Tuesday clarified that President Rodrigo Duterte's statement regarding the pull out of U.S. troop from southern Philippines is not a policy statement.
"Those statements are not policies set in stone. It's not a policy yet...Nobody acted on it yet. It serves as a notice," Abella said. "We're not turning back on anybody. We are just charting an independent course."
