Once upon a time, Congressman Ron Paul was castigated by the globalist Republican Party consensus for wanting to talk to foreign adversaries and to extend the olive branch in an attempt to create peace.
Those days are long gone, and we have President Donald Trump to thank for it!
Not only is Trump reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, but he is also engaged in preliminary talks with the Taliban. The intent is to finally bring troops home from Afghanistan, drawing back on the longest war in American history.
Pakistan will be hosting the next round of peace talks between the US government and the Taliban. Reuters fills in the context about these developments that should please non-interventionists everywhere:
“The next round of peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and the United States will be held in Pakistan as part of efforts to seek a political settlement of the 17-year Afghan war, the Pakistan’s information minister confirmed on Thursday.
Fawad Chaudhry give no further details.
In Washington, a State Department spokesperson said in an email that the United States had not received any formal invitation to talks in Islamabad, however, and that there was “no meeting to announce at this time.”
The talks would come a week ahead of previously scheduled negotiations between the two sides in Qatar on Feb. 25. Mujahid said in a statement that the Qatar talks would still take place as scheduled.
Both the Islamist movement and the United States hailed progress after the end of the last round of negotiations in Qatar last month.“
One of the biggest proponents of Trump’s newfound push for peace is Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has been in Trump’s corner the entire time as he enacts his unorthodox foreign policy.
“I think the president deserves to become a mentor,” Paul said while appearing on an edition of Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime.” “I think it takes a real statesman to end a war. I think it’s very easy to start a war.”
“There is nobody left alive or free who harbored those who attacked us on 9/11. We completed our mission. But when we change the mission to create a nation over there, building their roads and bridges and hotels and gas stations, we need to be spending that much money here at home,” Paul added.
While Trump clearly wants to bring the troops home from areas like Syria and Afghanistan, there are neocons who Trump has allowed to slither within his administration that may hold him back from doing so. Trump has hired infamous warmongers John Bolton and Elliott Abrams to handle foreign affairs for his administration, but their influence is being felt primarily in Iran and Venezuela. The mainstream media is constantly agitating to keep troops in Afghanistan at the behest of the military-industrial complex.
Trump will have to listen to Sen. Paul if he wants to stay out of the weeds and work toward Making America Great Again. The fact that he is engaging in talks with the Taliban – something that would have been considered verboten during the George W. Bush era – shows that DJT is headed in the right direction!
