Jeb Bush weighs in on Afghan strategy, Donald Trump
A day after President Obama announced that he would slow U.S. plans to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush announced his support for the strategy.
"I would take the recommendation of the general that was responsible for it, who's now the chairman of the joint chiefs: 10,000 troops," Bush said. "I think that's the proper place to be -- without a timeline. Because the minute you create a timeline... your opponents, your enemies are organizing for, waiting you out. And I think that's the proper thing to do."
Mr. Obama announced Thursday that the U.S. would continue to keep its 9,800 troops in the country through the majority of 2016, reducing that number to about 6,000 forces after 2016. It's a change from president's plans to draw down the amount of soldiers to 1,000 by the end of his term.
"I'm pleased the president has not worried about a campaign promise six years ago," Bush continued. "Conditions change. And I think he made the right decision to keep troops on the ground."
But, the White House contender said: "It looks like it's political -- cut it in half, and, you know, off we go."
Bush also laid out a strategy on intervention in Syria, and slammed the White House for their late response to the four-year-long conflict.
When it comes to acting in Syria, Bush charged that the president "should have earlier."
As for his own plans in Syria, the former Florida governor said that we "need to create safe zones, to have a safe harbor for refugees, and to allow us to rebuild the remnants of the Syria free army."
Bush also included no-fly zones in his list of intervention tactics in the war-torn country and dismissed Russian support to Assad.
"The argument was, well, we'll get into conflict with Russia -- well, maybe Russia shouldn't want to be in conflict with us," he said. "This is a place where American leadership is desperately needed. Russia is there to prop up Assad. We're there to deal with both Assad and ISIS and we should garner the support of Europe and the Middle East countries to do just that."
The presidential candidate also weighed in on the 2016 race, where he's made a precipitous drop in the polls, falling behind political outsiders like real estate mogul Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
He criticized Trump for how the billionaire would handle Assad and slammed him for wanting to send refugees back to Syria "to their slaughter."
"I mean these are serious times and I think you need a person who has the temperament and the leadership skills to fix the things that are broken," Bush said. "I don't know about Donald Trump's views of leadership because he talks about himself the whole time, rather than what he would do."
Asked if he had any advice for Joe Biden, who has been weighing a jump into the 2016 race, Bush said: "Continue speaking Korean." Bush was referring to Biden's comments to reporters Thursday, just before he greeted South Korean President Park at the Naval Observatory. The vice president laughingly responded to the press' questions about a White House bid that he would only "answer in Korean."