MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2019) The dismissal of US National Security Adviser John Bolton lays bare deep divisions within the US establishment and reaffirms President Donald Trump's "solo player" approach to foreign policy, experts told Sputnik.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that Bolton's services were no longer needed at the White House and asked him to resign. Later, Trump said that they had a number of "strong" disagreements, including on Venezuela and North Korea.
According to experts, the underlying factor behind Bolton's departure is a principled difference in foreign policy approaches exercised by Trump and his former adviser.
"The immediate policy disagreement [with Bolton] was over peace talks with the Taliban, and in particular Trump's belief that his personal touch could be the 'magic bullet' in solving difficult diplomatic problems; and in particular, in negotiations with the Taliban and inviting them to Camp David. They appear to have had a huge personal row over the issue last weekend," Richard Sakwa, a professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent, told Sputnik.
Last weekend, Trump planned to hold separate meetings with the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani but called them off after the movement claimed responsibility for the attack that killed a US service member in Kabul on September 5. He also said that the peace talks that his administration has been holding with the Taliban for over a year were now "dead."
Back in August, The Washington Post notably reported that Bolton had been kept out of any discussions related to the US-Taliban negotiations because his opposition to diplomacy irritated Trump.
Sakwa suggested that this very "hawkish" approach had become the reason for Bolton's ouster.
"The broader issue is Bolton's hawkish position on most national security matters, whereas Trump (contrary to much commentary) has far more peaceful intentions. Trump believes in trade and sanctions as instruments of conflict, not military intervention," the expert said.
Muhammad Athar Javed, the director general of international think tank Pakistan House, in turn, suggested that Bolton had been simply "trying to impose his vision on president Trump and his White House team."
"But national security adviser can only advise. The last two advisers were also fired," he told Sputnik.
The ouster, meanwhile, reflects not just a difference in approach between the two but deeper divisions within the US government, according to Javed.
"Trump initiates a very interesting offensive diplomacy, and at the same time when he reaches a level where he could culminate with a success and some political gains for himself, the opposition, who are Pentagon and other people in the administration who do not want Trump to give more concession to Iran and Afghanistan and Taliban, come up," he said.
Trump, however, will go ahead with his policy, Javed believes, noting that it is "not the policy of the US government as a whole where Pentagon and State Department agree" but a "solo."
"Trump is a solo-player who has [a lot] to say, and he knows how to demonstrate his vision ... [But] if you take solo actions, then once this president is not in place, other departments, like Pentagon or State Department, will dismantle the deal, and that is very problematic, especially in the case of Afghanistan or Iran," he warned.
Upon arrival at the White House, Trump initiated a number of diplomatic endeavors, including on North Korea and talks with the Taliban with potential US troop drawdown in Afghanistan. Trump, who has unilaterally walked out of the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal and reinstated harsh sanctions against Tehran, however expresses readiness for talks with the Iranian leadership.
Hours after Bolton's ouster, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Trump could meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the UN General Assembly sidelines later in September, with "no preconditions."
