Former first lady Laura Bush hinted this week that she would rather see Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office than Donald Trump, saying she wants the next president to be someone who cares about women in Afghanistan.
“I want our next president — whoever he or she might be — to be somebody who is interested in women in Afghanistan and who will continue U.S. policies … that we continue to do what we’re committed to do as a country,” Mrs. Bush said during the annual Women in the World summit in New York, according to the Telegraph.
“That’s who I want — or the kind of people that will do that and will pay attention to our history, and know what’s happened before and know specifically how we can continue to do the good things that we do around the world,” Mrs. Bush added.
Mrs. Bush, who recently published a book on Afghan women in conjunction with her husband’s George W. Bush Institute, stopped short of endorsing a particular candidate in the 2016 race.
However, many in the audience took her remark as a nod to the former secretary of state.
Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, is the only female candidate left in the race and visited Afghanistan four times during her time at the State Department.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump, the Republican front-runner, has been heavily criticized for his foreign policy plans and for suggesting that the U.S. should target the families of terrorists.
GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has also suggested that the U.S. should have no role in Afghanistan reconstruction and should only remain in the country to fight terrorism.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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