As he reiterated his promise to put an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, US President-elect Donald Trump promised a “strong military” on Thursday.
Trump, who ran on a platform of “America First” in international relations, has stated in the past that he wants to halt the Middle East’s violence by reaching an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv, but he has not provided specifics.
“We have to get back to a great country with low taxes and a strong military. We’re going to fix our military, we did once and now we’re going to have to do it again,” he said Thursday at a gala organized by the America First Policy Institute at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
“We’re going to work on the Middle East and we’re going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It’s got to stop,” Trump added.
In addition, he attacked the “big chunk” of US spending on Afghanistan, where American forces left in 2021 after two decades of battling a Taliban insurgency that retook power that year.
The nearly three-year-old confrontation between Russia and Ukraine could be turned upside down by Trump’s reelection, raising doubts about Washington’s multibillion-dollar defence assistance for Kyiv.
On the campaign trail, the Republican claimed he could put an end to the war in a matter of hours and that he would speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately.
Trump has not specified the terms he would offer or how he plans to reach a peace agreement for Ukraine.
Trump has nominated Fox News host and National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth to lead the world’s most powerful military as defense secretary, despite a slim CV.
If confirmed by the Senate, Hegseth would command around 3.4 million soldiers and civilians, and oversee an annual budget of about $850 billion.
The president-elect has entrusted Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, with the task of proposing cuts of $2 trillion from the federal government’s $7 trillion budget.
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