President Barack Obama's announcement that he will begin pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan is a self-serving move being made to protect his legacy, says Bill Kristol, founder and editor of The Weekly Standard.
"It's totally irresponsible [and] based on an ideology of 'I want to be able to give a speech before I leave office saying we're out of the wars I inherited, period,''' Kristol told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"It's entirely politics, not even politics of the sense of 'I want to help the Democrats in 2016.' I'm not sure this is really good for Hillary Clinton.
"[It's] just politics in the sense of 'I'm thinking about the stories that are going to be written about me' and it's all about him,'' Kristol said Wednesday.
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But Kristol said he thinks Obama's "real legacy" is destined to be "pretty miserable.''
"What's amazing, he thinks he can just kick the can down the road, hopefully nothing horrible happens before January 2017," he said.
"And then I guess he thinks people will just forget about the implications of the policies he's adopted with respect to Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and other places.''
Kristol added that Obama's vow to leave Afghanistan is an open invitation to terrorists.
"Unfortunately, the terrorist groups across the wide swath of northern Africa and the Persian Gulf are getting stronger, not weaker,'' he said.
"I believe this announcement unfortunately will strengthen terrorist groups in Afghanistan itself and, I'm afraid, in Pakistan,'' Kristol said.
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