Trump is no hawk, believes in seeking peace instead of perpetual conflict: White House official

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump "is no hawk" and he believes in seeking peace instead of perpetual conflict, a top national security official from the White House told Americans Wednesday as he urged them to re-elect him in the November presidential election.

"President Trump challenged, and continues to challenge, an increasingly provocative and militant China. But make no mistake, President Trump is no hawk,” Lt Gen (retired) Joseph Keith Kellogg Jr., who is the National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, said in his address to the Republican National Convention.

"He wisely wields the sword when required, but believes in seeking peace instead of perpetual conflict,” Kellogg said in his address on the third day of the convention.

The Republican National Convention will on Thursday formally re-nominate President Donald Trump as its candidate for the November 3 presidential election.

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be challenged by

the Democratic Party

's presidential nominee Joe Biden and his Indian-American running mate Senator Kamala Harris.

In his remarks, Kellogg said that just over a week ago, Trump brokered a peace agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, the first in the Middle East in over 25 years. And this week, Afghan negotiators, with help from American officials, will start peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government to end America's longest war, he said.

"Ask yourself, has this President kept his promises...to keep us out of needless conflicts and to pursue ending wars without end? Has he defended your interests in renegotiating trade deals that previously hurt Americans and our national security? Has he fulfilled his Commander in Chief role by decisively going after our Nation's enemies? You and I know, the answer is yes,” Kellogg said.

The choice is clear, he said. “This is the most important election of our lifetime. The next four years will decide the course of our country for decades to come. I am asking you to stand up and be counted, so we never have to look back and recall what it was once like in America when men and women were free, our families were secure -- and we had a President who served the people,” he said. Over the past three-and-a-half years, Kellogg said, he has witnessed every major foreign policy and national security decision by the President. “I have been in the room where it happened. I saw only one agenda and one guiding question when tough calls had to be made…is this decision right for America?” he said.

“When President Donald Trump took office, decades of failed foreign policy had crippled us. He faced wars without end in sight, creation of failed states like Libya and Syria, a past that allowed a terrorist caliphate to grow, and leadership in Washington that allowed our military to atrophy while we spent trillions of dollars abroad instead of investing at home,” he said. Kellogg said that Trump has reversed the decline of military and restructured national security strategy. With historic investment and vision, the military is now better equipped, better resourced and better manned than any military in the world, he asserted. President Trump demolished the terrorist ISIS Caliphate in the Middle East and eliminated its leader, al-Baghdadi, one of the world's most brutal murderers, he said. Trump took decisive action against Iranian terrorist mastermind Qasim Soleimani -- a man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American servicemen in Iraq, he added. “When our NATO allies failed to meet their commitments as we upheld ours, President Trump demanded parity. NATO members have now increased their contributions over USD 100 Billion this year and NATO's Secretary General credits…President Donald J. Trump,” Kellogg said.