Media reports said she may be under consideration for defence or foreign policy position in Trump’s Government. A major in the Army National Guard, Gabbard has served two tours of duty in Iraq. “I saw firsthand the cost of war, and the lives lost due to the interventionist warmongering policies our country has pursued for far too long,” she said after the meeting with Trump who has criticised United States’ military entanglements abroad.

Trump’s outreach to Gabbard illustrates the complexity of United States politics, where Trump is a dove when it comes to foreign interventions while extremely tough on Islamic terrorism, whereas his Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton is a hawk advocating interventions abroad and a confrontation with Russia.Trump Tower in mid-town Manhattan in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump has been working on shaping his administration by meeting various people there. Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu elected to United States Congress, met him there in November. Republican Nikki Haley, the Indian American governor of South Carolina, also met him there last week. (Credit: IANS)

Gabbard said she told Trump about her concerns with enforcing a no-fly zone over Syria that Clinton, along with Democratic and Republican hawks, advocates to counter Bashar al-Assad and Russia. “It would lead to more death and suffering, exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS (Islamic State) and al-Qaeda, and bring us into a direct conflict with Russia which could result in a nuclear war,” she said.