Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is pessimistic about the situation in Afghanistan, saying on Monday that he believes the United States should simply tell the country to "figure out how to live your own miserable life."
According to Danny Yadron of the Wall Street Journal, Gingrich made the comments at a business luncheon in Nashville, Tenn.
"We're not going to fix Afghanistan," he said. "It's not possible."
The solution, he added, was to tell Afghans: "You know, you’re going to have to figure out how to live your own miserable life. ... Because you clearly don't want to learn from me how to be unmiserable."
In recent days, Gingrich and his fellow GOP candidates have sharply criticized President Barack Obama for apologizing to Afghans for the burning of Qurans by U.S. service members.
"There seems to be nothing that radical Islamists can do to get Barack Obama's attention in a negative way and he is consistently apologizing to people who do not deserve the apology of the president of the United States period," Gingrich said last week.
The Obama administration has defended its decision to apologize, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying it "was the right thing to do."
The Quran-burnings have triggered a dangerous reaction across Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of U.S. officers and Afghans.