ANKARA, Turkey — President Donald Trump’s shifting timetable for pulling U.S. troops out of Syria has left allies and other players in the region confused and jockeying for influence over a withdrawal strategy that appeared to be a work in progress.

One day after White House National Security Adviser John Bolton announced the U.S. pullout would not be as immediate as Trump had initially declared, U.S. allies on Monday sought clarification from American diplomats. The Kurds, who have fought alongside U.S. forces against the Islamic State group and fear an assault by Turkey if the U.S. withdraws, were still asking for an explanation.

Bolton said the U.S. would first seek assurances from Turkey that it would not harm the Kurds — for the first time adding a “condition” to the withdrawal. He arrived Monday in Turkey to seek those guarantees from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but there was little reason for optimism. In a New York Times op-ed published ahead of the Tuesday meeting, Erdogan referred to the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, as a terrorist group, Turkey’s longtime position, and rejected any role for Kurdish fighters in restoring peace to the war-torn region.

The piece set up a contentious day of diplomacy for Bolton and underscored the destabilizing impact of Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip foreign policy. Trump’s spur-of-the-moment withdrawal came with no details, leaving allies scrambling for answers and aides crafting a strategy to satisfy all the players, including Trump.

Trump discussed Syria during a phone call on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, who had panned Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops and warned it could have dangerous consequences. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said they discussed the commitment of their two countries “to the destruction of ISIS as well as plans for a strong, deliberate, and coordinated withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria.”

Bolton said Sunday, “We don’t think the Turks ought to undertake military action that’s not fully coordinated with and agreed to by the United States.” Trump has made clear that he would not allow Turkey to kill Kurds, Bolton added. “That’s what the president said, the ones that fought with us.”

Erdogan proposed in his op-ed to stand up a “stabilization force featuring fighters from all parts of Syrian society” to safeguard northeast Syria once American troops leave, though he said an “intensive vetting process” will exclude fighters with “links to terrorist organizations,” which in his government’s view includes the YPG.

Bolton did not respond to the op-ed ahead of Tuesday’s meetings, but such an offer would appear unlikely to be acceptable to the U.S. Bolton had said the protection of U.S. allies in Syria, including the YPG, was among “the objectives that we want to accomplish that condition the withdrawal” of U.S. forces.