Trump seeks second term by reducing US military role

Menna Abdel Razek

US President Donald Trump is seeking to reduce the US military role in hot regions such as West Africa and Asia under his slogan “America First”. The US agreement with the terrorist Taliban movement is aimed at reducing the number of US troops in Afghanistan in an attempt to get public support in the presidential elections.

The US has adopted a policy of great influence in regions, especially in the Middle East and Africa. Trump has pointed out a number of times that Washington pays a lot without return. Therefore, Trump has decided to reduce military bases to please many Republicans. To this end, he has vowed to reduce the US military role in Afghanistan, North Korea and Syria.

Hamdy Abdel Rahman, a professor of political science at Zayed University, said in a researched paper that Trump had adopted a careless policy in Africa, despite the US large deployment in West Africa.

Abdel Rahman noted that Trump is ignoring French criticism adding that Trump would fulfill his pledges favoring the best interest of the US, focusing only on the US internal affairs.

However, Trump will not hesitate to intervene militarily when necessary to keep Africa under the US control and contain the Chinese and Russian influence there.

The professor pointed out that the Pentagon has shifted its policy from trying to defeat Islamist groups in the Sahel and West Africa regions to just seeking to mitigate their influence due to increasing terrorist attacks there.

Abdel Rahman noted that Trump might reach agreements with takfiri groups, i.e. Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin in Mali, al-Shabaab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria if he won a second term.

Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, said that the agreement was reached in the middle of a hotly contested presidential election season. Such an agreement with the Taliban will allow Trump to point to a campaign promise kept: getting the United States out of its longest war.