US President Donald Trump said in his remarks to graduates of the US Military Academy that the country was “ending the era of endless wars”.
“We are ending the era of endless wars. In its place is a renewed, clear-eyed focus on defending America’s vital interests,” Trump told the more than 1,000 cadets of the academy also known as West Point on Saturday.
He noted that the task of the US military is neither to rebuild foreign nations nor to “solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands that many people have never even heard of”.
“We are not the policemen of the world,” he added.
Admissions to the military academy are extremely tough.
Besides fulfilling educational and physical requirements, a candidate will have to be nominated by a member of Congress, the vice president or the president to be admitted to West Point.
Trump’s speech came at a time when his administration is drawing up plans to pull out troops from various places around the globe.
A joint statement issued by Washington and Baghdad on Thursday said that the US would continue reducing its military presence in Iraq over the coming months.
Trump reportedly directed the Pentagon to reduce nearly 9,500 US troops from the 34,500 troops that are permanently assigned in Germany, which led to opposition from Republican lawmakers.
Last week 22 Republican members of Congress wrote to Trump, warning him of a significant force drawdown in Europe would serve Russia’s interests at the expense of US national security.
There are also reports saying that the Trump administration is looking at a range of options to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan at an early date, with one possible option targeting this November.
The peace agreement signed late February between the US and the Taliban called for the full withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan by May 2021 if the Taliban no longer supports terrorist groups.
