President Donald Trump reportedly told Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that the United States will soon pull its troops out of Afghanistan, The Washington Post reports.
Paul, a longtime opponent of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, said that his recent conversations with Trump have convinced him that the president is becoming more of a noninterventionist, and that he is prepared to end America's military presence in Afghanistan.
"The president told me over and over again in general we're getting the hell out of there," Paul told the Post last Thursday during an interview in his Senate office. "I think the president's instincts and inclination are to resolve the Afghan conflict."
The senator noted that back during the 2016 GOP primaries, he and Trump stood out among the other 16 candidates for their longtime opposition to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The other day when we were talking, he said it's probably only he and I of the whole 16 that shared any of this vision of foreign policy that these wars had been a mistake," Paul said. "That's something. That's an amazing opening for people like me who think we have made so many mistakes."
Although Trump did not provide an exit date or a written agreement, he did tell Paul to meet with his nominee for Secretary of State, former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, which may have led to Paul providing the necessary vote on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that led to Pompeo's confirmation.
"We are in the midst of a shifting policy that I don't think they'll want to get very specific in the White House — and maybe for good reasons," Paul said. "If you were to ask, 'Is the president for resolving the Afghan conflict?' I think he would say, 'Yes.' I think he is just not willing like most people to say, 'Tomorrow.'"
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