Ben Carson: Republican presidential hopeful hits back at claims that he doesn't understand US foreign policy

'A year from now, I’ll know a lot more than I know now'

Republican presidential hopeful Dr Ben Carson (Getty Images)

Republican presidential hopeful Dr Ben Carson has hit back at claims that he struggles to grasp the intricacies of US foreign policy, after an adviser to his campaign was quoted saying the retired neurosurgeon had never been exposed to “intelligent information” about the Middle East.

Following a series of appearances in which he seemed to flail when challenged on foreign policy, Mr Carson appeared on PBS Newshour on 17 November to insist that he was a fast learner with an evolving knowledge of the issues. “A year from now, I’ll know a lot more than I know now,” he said.

His comments came after a damning report from the New York Times, which quoted former CIA agent Duane Clarridge as saying: “Nobody has been able to sit down with [Dr Carson] and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East.”

Mr Clarridge, 83, who was indicted in 1991 for involvement in the Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal but later pardoned, had previously been described by Mr Carson’s aides as a “mentor” to the candidate on the topics of terrorism and national security.

But on 17 November, Mr Carson insisted: “He is not my adviser. He is a person who has come in on a couple of our sessions to offer his opinions about what was going on... To call himself my adviser would be a great stretch, and he has no idea who else I’m sitting down and talking to.”

Mr Carson’s top adviser Armstrong Williams nonetheless conceded that his candidates was on a “learning curve” regarding foreign policy, telling Bloomberg TV: “He is learning, he is in school and he wants to know it just as well as the experts.”

Dr Carson has jostled with Donald Trump at the front of the Republican field, despite never having held political office. But in the past week he has stumbled over foreign affairs, wrongly suggesting at the most recent Republican debate that China had intervened in Syria, and later seeming incapable of naming any potential US allies in the fight against Isis during an interview with Fox News.