U.S. President Donald Trump has fired his national security advisor, John Bolton, who pushed a hard line foreign policy and provoked squabbles within the Cabinet.
Trump made his dissatisfaction plain on Twitter: “I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration.”
Bolton refused to dismiss the possibility of military action against North Korea and Iran, even aiming for regime change, which brought him into conflict with those, like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who have pursued resolutions through diplomacy.
Blton’s duty was to control the administration’s diplomatic and security policy. Bolton’s hard line, which who prioritized military intervention, brought with it the danger of destabilizing the world. Dismissing him was a sensible decision.
Nonetheless, this is the third time the national security advisor has been replaced in the two years and eight months since the inauguration. You have to admit that this is unusual.
The direct cause of Bolton’s dismissal is said to be his attempt to prevent a peace agreement with the Taliban, Afghanistan’s former governing force.
The talks were canceled after an American soldier was killed in Afghanistan, but Trump must be eyeing a result that could conclude the 18-year war on terror.
If Trump can accomplish an American withdrawal from Afghanistan, it would count as a diplomatic win ahead of the presidential election next year. A peace deal would be a prelude to this.
Trump has even tweeted that he told Bolton he was “no longer needed.” The dismissal can only be considered to have been dictated by emotion.
This round of the dismissal drama originates from the lack of a systematic foreign policy in the Trump administration.
Even though the nuclear problem is the same, Trump emphasizes dialogue with North Korea while putting pressure on Iran. It is said that the administration and some congressmen distrusted the Taliban, the negotiating partners, even during the Afghan peace talks.
Trump must have appointed Bolton despite being aware of his hard-line attitude. If policies keep changing, based on on-the-spot profit-and-loss calculations, and personnel keep getting replaced, won’t America’s negotiating and diplomatic power simply diminish?
More than 50 Cabinet secretaries and high-level officials in the Trump administration have resigned. About 30 of these were in fact dismissals, and some posts have not been refilled.
The blame for this lies with Trump, since he has the power to appoint these officials. If he continues to ignore the chaos and makes haphazard personnel decisions, the same confrontations will simply continue.
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