WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2018) US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said in a resignation letter that President Donald Trump should select a person for this position whose views are more aligned with his own.
"Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours... I believe it is right for me to step down from my position," Secretary Mattis' letter to Trump said on Thursday.
Mattis will be retiring at the end of February. The announcement came shortly after Trump's decision to pull out all US troops from Syria.
The United States cannot protect its interests without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to allies, Mattis said.
Moreover, Mattis said the United States must utilize all tools in its power to provide for the common defense against Russia and China, which want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors.
The United States must be resolute and unambiguous in its approach to countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with the United States.
The United States must provide effective leadership to its alliances, Mattis said. He pointed out NATO and the Defeat-Islamic State (banned in Russia) terrorist group coalition.
Mattis recommended that a full transition to a new Secretary of Defense occur well in advance of the transition of the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September in order to ensure stability in Defense Department.
Before serving as the 26th US Secretary of Defense, Mattis served as US commander in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2010-2013.
